Thousands of viewers are already tuned in to the National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationYouTube account as the Artemis II test flight prepares to lift off for the Moon tomorrow from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The craft’s launch into the atmosphere will be visible in Florida and as far as southern Georgia, but appears too distant to afford Bermudians a good view.

The mission — Nasa’s first human trip to the Moon’s orbit in 54 years since the 1972 Apollo mission — is set to lift off with four crew members on board the Orion spacecraft mounted a rocket at about 6.24pm.

Live coverage of launch online begins at about 12.50pm tomorrow and will continue daily on YouTube, Nasa said.

Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, of the Canadian Space Agency, are embarking on a ten-day journey around the Moon.

The crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre on Friday to prepare for the launch.

Nasa said the weather forecast for launch day shows an 80 per cent chance of favourable weather conditions with primary concerns being cloud coverage and the potential for high winds in the area.

The conditions will continue to be monitored as the countdown continues, the space agency said.

Among other objectives, Nasa said the flight will test the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems for the first time with people and lay the groundwork for future crewed Artemis missions.

A spokeswoman for the US Consulate said the mission tomorrow would be monitored from the island, highlighting Bermuda’s “significant role in space exploration”.

Kimille Trott, a Bermudian engineer who is part of the Artemis programme, will be monitoring the mission launch from the console at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.

Ms Trott has been working with a team of engineers for a key part of the space launch rocket.

The Artemis II mission builds on the success of Nasa’s Artemis I mission in 2022 which had no crew aboard.