Orion's interior space is equivalent to that of two minivans, NASA says. That's a lot more breathing room than space capsules of the 1960s and '70s.

As NASA invites the public to follow the Artemis II mission as a crew of four astronauts venture around the Moon inside the agency’s Orion spacecraft, people around the world can pinpoint Orion during its journey using the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW).

This includes the touching message left to the astronauts from Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke - the youngest person to have ever walked on the moon. Dr Glaze then shares an image taken by Christina Koch from Orion of the Earth.

They’ll be itching for a giant leap when this is done. Life onboard Artemis II’s moon-bound spaceship will be a cramped and possibly smelly affair. And it’s not a huge improvement from the last time mankind journeyed into deep space more than 50 years ago.

Artemis II is not just looking backward; it is quite literally planting seeds for the future. In late 2022, the uncrewed Artemis I test flight carried a variety of tree seeds around the Moon. This harks back to a famous Apollo 14 experiment that created “Moon Trees” across the country.

NASA says Artemis II astronauts may recognize Apollo landing regions during their lunar flyby, offering a distant but meaningful view of the Moon’s surface