Nasa prepare to launch mega Moon rocket

The SLS rocket is on track to make its first flight this year

Nasa is getting prepared to launch its mega Moon rocket for the first time.

Its getting the launch pad ready for testing a powerful new rocket called SLS and if everything goes well an un-crewed mission could take off in May.

This mission, called Artemis 1, will send the spacecraft on a loop around the Moon without a pilot.

If that goes well, there are longer term plans to send humans back to the Moon by 2024 when Nasa will send a man and a woman to the lunar surface in the first landing with humans since 1972 - 50 years ago.

Astronauts will travel to the Moon in a spacecraft called Orion

If the testing goes to plan, the Artemis 1 rocket should do a crewless flyby of the Moon in a mission lasting around 26 days.

In May 2024, the Artemis 2 mission will do the same journey but with a crew inside.

Following that, Artemis 3 will send the first woman and first non-white astronaut to the Moon.

How big is the rocket?

The SLS rocket stands at 98 meters tall.

When it takes off from the launchpad for the first time, it'll create around 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

To put that in context, it's about 15% more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that powered astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo missions five decades ago.

Why is the Artemis mission so expensive?

Trips to space aren't cheap and this mission is no different.

The multi-billion dollar programme, relies on US Congress releasing just over $3 billion for building a landing system.

Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said: "The $28bn represents the costs associated for the next four years in the Artemis programme to land on the Moon.

"SLS funding, Orion funding, the human landing system and of course the spacesuits - all of those things that are part of the Artemis programme are included."

When was the last time humans went to the Moon?

The last time a person landed on the Moon was in 1972.

The first ever landing was a few years earlier on July 20 1969, when Neil Armstrong, one of the astronauts in Apollo 11, became the first human to walk on the surface of the Moon.

It was one of the most important moments in human history.