Nasa names first Black and female astronauts to fly to the Moon

Nasa has revealed the four astronauts who will fly around the Moon next year will include both the first Black man and the first woman to embark on a lunar mission.

Victor Glover and Christina Koch will be joined by Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen, the US space agency announced at a ceremony in Houston, Texas, on Monday.

Their 10-day mission, called Artemis II, is set to launch in late 2024 or early 2025.

It will see the four-person crew circle the Moon before returning to Earth.

They will not actually land on the lunar surface, but another Artemis mission scheduled for 2025 is set to return Nasa to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

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Artemis II aims to test Nasa's life-support systems aboard the Orion spacecraft.

Eventually Nasa hopes to establish a base on the Moon.

Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said: "Space is hard. You have to wait until you know that it's as safe as possible, because you're living right on the edge.

"So I'm not so concerned with the time. We're not going to launch until it's right."

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Nasa has estimated the cost of the whole Artemis mission at $28 billion.

The mission is part of the agency's plan to put the first woman on the Moon.

It would mark the first time people have walked on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

Just 12 people have walked on the Moon – all of them men.

Nasa flew six manned missions to the surface of the Moon, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969, up to Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt in December 1972.

Watch: Nasa announces four astronauts to go to moon