Intuitive Machines, a private Houston-based company, has launched its first lunar lander to the Moon from Cape Canaveral, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was used to launch the spacecraft, nicknamed Odysseus, with the hope that it will touch down near the South Pole of the Moon on 22 February
If all goes well, it would be the first time a private firm has successfully landed a spacecraft on the Moon
It would also be the first American mission in 51 years to complete a soft touchdown on the Moon
The company has been contracted by Nasa to carry six scientific instruments on-board that will help study the Moon's surface and measure radio waves
You can watch our live stream by pressing the play button at the top of this page - there will not be regular text updates
Image source, EPAWe're closing this live-stream page now - thanks for watching. You can read our full report here.
Next step for Odysseus is a possible Moon landing in a week's time - and you thought your journey to work was long...
The Odysseus spacecraft is heading for the Moon - but the boosters for the Falcon 9 rocket it launched from are safely back on Earth. Watch take-off, and landing, below.
As a reminder, you can still watch our stream by pressing play at the top of the page.
Intuitive Machines Moon launch: SpaceX blasts private firm's lunar lander into orbit
Georgina Rannard
Science reporter
Image source, ReutersTake-off took place in the early hours of the Florida morning
Take-off is a success! No matter how many times I see a rocket launch, it still always sparks a sense of amazement and wonder in me.
The 70-metre SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines and propelled the Odysseus spacecraft (which is around the size of an old-fashioned British phone booth) on its journey into space.
After about eight minutes, the first stage of the rocket, which is mostly the boosters with propulsion fuel, fell away and landed back on Earth as planned.
Nasa and Intuitive Machines, the private US company behind this mission, will be delighted that the first stage of 1M-1 mission has gone well. A lot of time, knowledge and money has gone into it.
But the real test remains – can Odysseus navigate a successful landing on the Moon’s south pole in around nine days' time?
Other missions have got this far but failed before the landing. A representative for Intuitive Machines said in the minutes before the launch: "We have to be humble about it."
We’ll be watching to find out.
As Intuitive Machines' craft heads for the Moon, the rocket booster used for launching has landed safely back on Earth.
"Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on Landing Zone 1 – completing this booster’s 18th launch and landing," says
As a reminder - our stream from Florida is still live at the top of the page.
If you're watching the live stream, you'll know the first stage of the Moon launch went well - although it's still a week until any landing.
Here's a still picture of the Falcon 9 rocket taking off.
Image source, NASAGeorgina Rannard
Science reporter
If this mission is successful (and it’s a big if), it would make Intuitive Machines the first private company to land on the Moon.
It would also be the first US landing there since Nasa’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. And it would prove that commercial lunar missions have a future.
The US space agency Nasa has funded this project - it’s not the first attempt. Two missions by other companies have already failed. SpaceIL’s Beresheet and ispace’s Hakuto-R both crash-landed and were destroyed.
It’s not just about getting to the Moon - Odysseus is also carrying lots of scientific instruments and cameras to discover more about the Moon.
One will measure how the landing itself kicks up plumes of lunar dust .
And the lander won’t be alone - 125 tiny sculptures by the artist Jeff Koons are also on board, as well as a chip that aims to establish an archive of human knowledge on the Moon.
Georgina Rannard
Science reporter
This spacecraft is lifting off from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida. It will sit on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
We should see the last minute preparations for the launch - the final litres of fuel put into the rocket to propel it into space.
We will then see the 70m (230 ft) rocket lift off, and eight minutes later the boosters and some other parts will return to Earth.
All being well, those parts should land back at Cape Canaveral.
Odysseus isn’t due to attempt to land on the Moon until 22 February, when the company Intuitive Machines hopes it will set down on the South Pole and stay for seven days.
Ready, set, lift off… on our live coverage, at last.
We’re still a few minutes away from today’s Moon launch, which is set to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 06:05 GMT (01:05 EST).
But if the company, Intuitive Machines, is successful in getting their spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit, it will be one essential step closer to claiming the title of being the first commercial spacecraft to land on the Moon.
That historic title, of course, can’t officially be claimed until Odysseus – the nickname for the spacecraft – actually touches down on the lunar surface, which the Houston-based firm says should happen towards the end of the month.
We won’t be providing minute-by-minute updates by text in this page. Instead you can watch the launch attempt live by clicking the Play button at the top of this page.