Artemis 1 launch LIVE — Nasa successfully launches its Moon rocket mission after worrying countdown

At 1 hour and 12 minutes into the flight of Artemis 1, all is going well for the mission.

More updates can be found on Nasa's social media accounts and on its .

Nasa has successfully launched its Artemis 1 Moon rocket.

The launch took place just before around 15 minutes before 2am ET on November 16.

Nasa says there are currently no constraints to launch Artemis 1.

The launch is likely to go ahead this morning.

Nasa is extending its hold on the countdown clock, which means that a 1:04am ET launch is not possible.

Artemis Launch Control is estimating how long it will take to get the rocket ready for launch.

The launch is currently in a T-minus 10 minute hold for the Artemis rocket.

Blast off is still set for 1:04am ET but the launch team is still working to catch up after several issues were discovered.

These issues included a radar problem and a leak in the liquid hydrogen engine.

Both issues seem to have been resolved for now.

Nasa is still counting down to launch the Artemis 1 Moon rocket this morning but a 1:04am ET (6:04am GMT) launch time is looking unlikely.

The rocket faced a leaky engine issue, which has reportedly been fixed.

It's now facing a radar issue that could push back the launch to November 19.

The "red crew" that has been fixing a leak on the Artemis 1 Moon rocket has returned to safety.

Nasa is yet to confirm whether the brave efforts in the danger zone of the rocket were successful.

The countdown clock is still ticking down but it's looking unlikely that a 1:04am ET (6:04am GMT) launch will go ahead.

An emergency team of engineers trying to fix a leak in the Artemis 1 Moon rocket have said that nuts they were sent to fix were "visibly loose".

The brave team has just finishing working in the “blast danger area” of the Artemis 1 rocket.

They'll now return to a safe area and assess whether their tampering has fixed the liquid hydrogen engine.

Nasa has started its live coverage of the Artemis 1 Moon rocket despite currently managing an unplanned red crew emergency mission to fix a leak.

The leak is the liquid hydrogen side of the engine.

A similar problem saw a previous launch attempt cancelled.

A red team are now at the launch pad in a dangerous area, trying to fix a leak.

Two engineers will have to bravely tweak and tighten parts of the rocket as it remains full of liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel.

People are not usually allowed anywhere near the launchpad at this stage in the fuelling process unless an error has occurred that could stop the launch.

The "intermittent leak" is on the core stage of the Space Launch System.

A "red crew" has not yet been sent to fix it but they are currently being briefed to enter “blast danger area”.

Nasa is sending a crew inside the "blast danger area" of Artemis 1 to try and fix a leak in one of the engines.

They will "twerk packing nuts" to try and fix the leak.

Two vehicles containing two engineers and accompanying safety leads will be entering a dangerous area around the rocket to try and keep Artemis on track to launch tomorrow morning.

Nasa is in the planning stages of sending a "red crew" onto the Artemis 1 launch pad to try and fix a leak problem.

The crew is currently four miles away from the launch pad but could be sent there to do some emergency fixing.

Nasa said the leak it was monitoring has "increased".

Artemis Launch Control has announced an "intermittent leak"; in one of its engines.

It has faced a problem like this before and says Nasa engineers will monitor the situation.

The launch clock continues to countdown.

Artemis Launch Control continues to confirm that both engines are 100% full.

It will top them up until launch time.

The countdown clock is currently at 3 hours and 30 minutes but the launch cannot happen until 1:04am at the earliest.

Weather conditions remain favorable here in Florida for the 1:04am ET (6:04am GMT) launch to go ahead.

Nasa just gave a weather update and said that the cloud in the launch area is "thinning out".

That puts the weather conditions at 90% go for launch.

If successful, tomorrow morning's launch will be historic for numerous reasons.

Nasa : "Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon for decades to come.

"The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis II."

Nasa said it has reached a "major milestone" now that both fuel tanks are full.

It has never got this far in any of its other Artemis 1 launch attempts.

The Artemis 1 liquid core stage engine is now full.

This is a very positive sign with less than five hours left on the countdown clock.

However, there will be a 30 minute pause on the countdown clock later to check everything is running smoothly.

The weather is still the right condition for a 1:04am ET launch tomorrow morning.

Nasa has described the night as "fairly quiet at this part of the countdown".

The fuelling is still going well and the space agency is actually running ahead of time.

This means the 1:04am ET (6:04am GMT) launch time on Wednesday 16 is still on track.

One of the most crucial parts of Nasa's Artemis 1 mission is testing the Orion capsules heatshield.

This heatshield technology aims to protect the Orion capsule when astronauts are eventually inside it.

Nasa astronaut Stan Love spoke to The Sun about the most important part of the mission.

He said: "The most important part of this mission is testing the heatshield on Orion. That's why we're flying it.

"Everything else is gravy."

Love continued: "We have not built a big heatshield that can withstand the re-entry temperatures that you get when you hit the atmosphere after falling from the Moon and we really really really want to make sure that works.

"That is the key piece of technology that allows the rest of the Artemis program to happen.

"Now, we're going to take data on thousands of parameters.

"We're going to have millions of test points during this flight so we understand every aspect of that vehicle before we put my friends onboard.

";The number one goal is to test that heatshield."

Nasa said: ";So far, all is well with the rocket".

The US space agency will start a live broadcast of its own from 10:30am ET that you can watch on Nasa's media channels, including YouTube.

The Nasa live stream will include interviews with astronauts.

Artemis 1 is a very important mission because Artemis 2 will carry astronauts to the Moon for the first time in decades.

Artemis 3 aims to put the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.

Nasa says that the "fast fill" of its liquid hydrogen is now complete.

The engines will continue to be topped off even when full because the fuel can burn off.

The U.S. Sun will be live at the Kennedy Space Center until the launch.

The sun has now set over the rocket and fuelling is continuing to go well.

Engineers are currently pumping liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into the fuel tanks.

It was during the liquid hydrogen fueling stage that the first ever August launch attempt of Artemis 1 went wrong.

Journalists have arrived to watch the fuelling process of the Artemis 1 Moon rocket at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center.

So far, fuelling is going well and the rocket is on track to launch at 1:04am ET (6:04am GMT) on the morning of Wednesday 16.

Artemis I to the moon and beyond 

The SLS rocket will set a sustainable future in space, Kristine Ramos, Nasa’s Space Launch System Engineer, said to . 

“Gosh, I’ve been on this program for 10 years. It takes a lot of diverse people to design and build this rocket,” Ramos said. 

Artemis I will allow Nasa to “tweak” the spacecraft and rocket for future missions like to the moon and Mars.