Alison Francis
Senior science journalist

As the astronauts pass behind our celestial neighbour, the radio and laser signals that allow communication between the spacecraft and Earth, will be blocked by the Moon itself.

For about 40 minutes, the four astronauts will be totally alone.

They’ll spend the blackout dedicated to lunar observation – taking images, studying the Moon’s geology and simply gazing at its bleak beauty.

When they emerge and the signal is re-established, the world is expected to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

And the history-making astronauts will be able to share their incredible views with everyone back home.

Tara Mewawalla
Live reporter

When the crew woke up today, they listened to a special message recorded by Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell shortly before his death last year. "I'm proud to pass [this] torch on to you," he told them.

The Integrity spacecraft had already entered the lunar sphere of influence, meaning the pull of the Moon's gravity is stronger than that of the Earth.

The Artemis II astronauts set a new record for the furthest distance humans have ever travelled away from the Earth.

The record was previously held by the Apollo 13 crew, who travelled 248,655 miles from Earth in 1970. Artemis II will beat this record by about 4,102 miles, reaching a maximum distance of 252,757 miles at around 18:07 central time (22:07 GMT).

The crew named one of the Moon's craters after Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020. They name another crater Integrity - after the Orion spacecraft which has carried them to the far side of the Moon.

The lunar observation period has begun and will last for around seven hours. Wiseman described his view of the earth as a "small crescent", while mission specialist Christina Koch told mission control she had an "overwhelming sense of being moved by the Moon".

In the coming hours, mission control is expecting Artemis II to temporarily lose communication with the crew as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the Moon.

Artemis II pilot and Nasa astronaut Victor Glover hears that his family is in the viewing gallery, listening to him give his "sit-rep" (situational report) to mission control.

When he is told Dionna Glover, his wife, is "all smiles", he replies: "Hey babe, I love you from the Moon... I'm glad you get to be there."

Mission specialist Christina Koch describes to mission control her lunar observation as an "incredible experience".

"At one point... I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the Moon", she says.

She says this lasted "just a second or two" as something "drew me in suddenly into the landscape and it became real".

"The moon really is its own body in the Universe. It's not just a poster in the sky that goes by. It is a real place and when we have that perspective and we compare it to our home of the Earth it just reminds us how much we have in common.

"Everything we need the Earth provides and that is in and of itself truly a miracle."

Alison Francis
Senior science journalist

As we've just been reporting, the astronauts have been describing the colours they can see on the surface of the Moon.

The astronaut Harrison Schmitt was chosen for Apollo 17 because of his background as a geologist.

As he and Gene Cernan were collecting rock samples from the grey and bleakly beautiful lunar surface they were in for a surprise.

Schmitt suddenly said: “Hey wait a minute - it’s orange… there is orange soil… it’s all over.” A sample was brought back to Earth, and scientists think it’s microscopic glass beads that formed from lava "fire fountains" that rapidly cooled in the lunar vacuum.

The Artemis astronauts have a key objective to look for those nuances of colour on the surface of the Moon from the Orion spacecraft.

The eye of a well-trained person is one of the best scientific instruments for detecting those colours, as well as texture and geological features on the far side of the Moon.

Kelsey Young, Lunar Science Lead, told us: “When you really start to spend time and let your eyes get attuned to what you're seeing, you do see subtle shades of colour pop out, especially when you're close to the Moon, like our Artemis II astronauts will be.”

One of the astronauts tells mission control it's "truly awesome" the crew "now have the Moon and the Earth in window three simultaneously".

They say the Moon is a gibbous - when the illuminated part is greater than a semicircle and less than a circle - and the Earth is a crescent - the curved sickle shape.

"I'm guessing in about 45 minutes we'll have two identical crescents as we change our position in the universe," he adds.

Image source, NASA

In a "sit-rep" (situational report), astronaut Jeremy Hansen describes what it's like looking at the Moon.

"My eyes just now readjusted - the Moon is so bright when you come back to the window. I was in the interior of the cabin, I've come back to [the] window now."

He describes the colours he can see on the Moon's surface - including the darker and lighter greys that we are used to seeing.

He adds: "Right now, Aristarchus (a crater)... is hard for me to see from this window but that had greenish hues to me. It was very unique, I didn't see anything else like that anywhere else on this side of the Moon.

"And then I saw a lot of what i would call brownish hues."

The Artemis II crew are now calling down to mission control describing their observations of the Moon.

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen is speaking now - you can watch live at the top of the page.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

Image source, EPA

The Moon was born from the Earth.

About 4.5bn years ago, a huge Mars-sized body smashed into our planet, blasting off debris that then coalesced to form our celestial neighbour.

This means the Moon’s history is also our own - but this ancient archive is much better preserved in the lunar rocks.

With no plate tectonics, wind and rain, and oceans and vegetation to wipe this archive away, the Moon is a perfect time capsule.

Scientists are eagerly awaiting the images and observations that will be beamed back, but they’re even more excited about a future lunar landing, when rocks can be collected and brought home to their labs.

• Read more: First stop, the Moon. Next stop, Mars? Why Nasa's mission matters

Image source, NASA

The crew of the Artemis II mission have been sharing photographs of the Moon taken from on board the spacecraft.

Nasa says the below picture shows part of the far side of the moon.

The near side - the hemisphere we see from Earth - is visible on the right-hand-side in the photograph and is "identifiable by the dark splotches that cover its surface", Nasa says.

It adds: "These are ancient lava flows from a time early in the Moon’s history when it was volcanically active.

"The large crater west of the lava flows is Orientale basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater that straddles the Moon’s near and far sides. Orientale's left half is not visible from Earth, but in this image we have a full view of the crater.

"Everything to the left of the crater is the far side, the hemisphere we don’t get to see from Earth,"

Image source, NASA

Kevin Church
Videographer, BBC News

Image source, NASA

The astronauts have just been talking to mission control about photographs they are taking of the Moon - BBC videographer Kevin Church gives a run down of the camera kit they have at their disposal.

Compared to their Apollo predecessors, the Artemis crew have an array of digital cameras at their disposal.

They’ve brought three Nikon cameras: two D5s, one with a 14-24mm wide lens to capture the whole Moon and the other with an 80-400mm zoom lens that can pick out the finer details. They’ve also packed a Z9 with a 35mm lens, which takes images that are close to what the human eye can see.

There are GoPros mounted to the solar panels outside the spacecraft and each crew member has an iPhone to document the mission inside.

During the fly-by, the capsule’s lights will be dimmed to get the best possible pictures. However even these modern cameras will struggle to match the quality of the 70mm Hasselblad cameras used by the Apollo astronauts.

But packing one of these would mean bringing along multiple rolls of film, while a digital camera can store thousands of photos on a memory card the size of a postage stamp.

We've just been hearing from the Nasa Mission Control Center, which has been sharing insight into what the astronauts are currently observing on the Moon.

Mission control says commander Reid Wiseman and astronaut Jeremy Hansen have been at windows two and three on the Orion spacecraft. One has been taking photos and the other has been making observations and making annotations.

"At this time, we also anticipate they are looking at a crater duo," mission control says.

As we've been reporting, the Artemis II crew has named one of two Moon craters "Carroll" - in memory of mission commander Reid Wiseman's late wife.

Anne Carroll Taylor, a school nurse, died of cancer in 2020, aged 46.

"That was a hugely special moment," former British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake tells the BBC.

"You know, they've just been announced as the furthest human beings from Earth and they got to name those craters and to have that bright spot on the moon named after Carroll.

"That would have been an incredibly emotional experience for them, very, very special.

"We are a very close knit community, a very small family in the astronaut world," he says. "We all know each other, we all know each other's families, so I just know how touched they will be, everybody back in mission control will be by that moment."

Commander Wiseman, 50, has been raising his two daughters as a single dad since his wife passed away.

He has stated that he sees this as his greatest challenge and the most rewarding phase of his life.

And just before the start Moon mission, he wrote: "I love these two ladies, and I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father."

Image source, EPA

We've just been hearing from former British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake.

He tells the BBC that the Artemis mission will have an "absolutely huge" impact on future generations and on space travel.

"In one short, seven-hour window they're going to be seeing so much," he says of the lunar flyby.

He adds that the astronauts will be able to observe things never seen before, detecting structure, colour and the texture of the lunar surface - a "wealth of scientific information".

"This will inspire this generation, future generations, to make sure the records they're setting today are not held for very long," he says.

The Artemis II crew have just broken the record for the furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth.

But their mission is far from over, and lots is scheduled in the next few hours:

• The lunar observation period has begun and will continue for around seven hours
• Shortly before 23:44 BST (18:44 EDT; 22:44 GMT), mission control is expecting to temporarily lose communication with the crew, as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the Moon
• Not long after this, the astronauts will make their closest approach to the Moon
• The crew will reach its furthest point from Earth at 00:07 BST (23:07 GMT; 19:07 EDT). At this distance, the Moon will look like the size of a basketball held at arm’s length
• Around 20 or so minutes after this, Nasa's Mission Control Center should be able to reestablish communication with the astronauts

Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent

It takes about four days to cruise out to the Moon.

At its furthest, the spacecraft's trajectory takes the crew to around 230,000 miles from Earth, looping them behind the far side of the Moon.

After the flyby, Orion makes a series of gentle course correction burns to line up its path for the return to Earth.

Roughly four days later, Orion separates from the European Service Module and heads for home.

The capsule slams into the upper atmosphere at high speed, its heatshield glowing white hot as it sheds the energy of the trip.

Parachutes then unfurl, slowing the spacecraft for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where US Navy ships will be waiting to fish the crew and their capsule out of the water.

Image source, EPA

Commander Reid Wiseman, leading the Artemis mission, has been giving an update of the view that his crew is seeing from the spacecraft's window.

"The earth is a small crescent out there. It's magnificent, I got a picture of it...such a majestic view out here," he says.

We've just been hearing from the Artemis crew, who say they are ready to begin the lunar observation period in around 13 minutes.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest from onboard the Orion spacecraft.

Kelsey Young from mission control says the crew is 248,655 miles (400,171 km) from Earth. They will reach their furthest distance around 18:07 central time (22:07 GMT).

"At that time they will be in an LOS or a loss of signal with us on Earth as they'll be flying behind the Moon," she adds.

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen tells Nasa's Kelsey Young that the crew would like to name some craters on the Moon that they can currently see "both with our naked eye and with our long lens".

He asks Nasa to name one after Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll, who died in 2020 of cancer.

They name another crater Integrity - after the Orion spacecraft which has carried them to the far side of the Moon.

"A number of years ago we started this journey.. and we lost a loved one and there's a feature on a really neat place on the moon... at certain times of the Moon's transit around Earth we will be able to see this from Earth," he says.

Jim Lovell, an astronaut in the Apollo 8 and 13 missions who had prerecorded a message for the Artemis crew before he died last year, also named a crater after his wife, Marilyn, in 1968.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed the quotes above to Reid Wiseman.