The Artemis I moon mission is set for liftoff Monday. Watch live as NASA launches its new $50 billion mega-rocket.

The Artemis 1 uncrewed test flight will set the stage for humans' return to the moon.

Robert Cabana, NASA associate administrator, told reporters at a press conference that the space agency was going for launch. It has been a long time since this day.

If the SLS rocket is successful, it will shoot the spaceship around the moon, and the spaceship will survive the fiery plummet back through Earth's atmosphere. NASA wants to build a permanent base on the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars.

After being rolled out last week, the rocket is sitting on a platform. During a two-hour window that starts at 8:33 a.m., space agency officials say the liftoff will take place. There is an hour and a half later.

When technicians start filling the rocket with fuel at midnight, you can watch the launch on NASA's broadcast. When the first images of Earth are beamed back, NASA plans to broadcast until about 5 pm.

If there is a last-minute technical issue or weather delay, there are two backup windows available on September 2 and September 5. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the inaugural launch of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

In a bid to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion on the SLS rocket and its companion spaceship.

NASA

At 23 stories, the Statue of Liberty is taller than the SLS rocket. Four car-sized engines and two rocket boosters should push it through the thick part of the atmosphere. A total distance of over one million miles is possible if everything goes well. It will zip as close as 60 miles above the lunar surface, allowing lunar gravity to sling it 40,000 miles past the moon before returning to Earth.

The amount of radiation that future astronauts will be exposed to during the test flight will be assessed by scientists. Several mini satellites will be launched with the mission.

NASA's main goal with Artemis I is to test every function of the launch and spaceflight system, including the communication and navigation systems and the heat shield, which must survive a fiery plummet through Earth's atmosphere.

The Artemis II mission will carry astronauts on a roundabout if the uncrewed Orion spaceship makes it around the moon. Humans could be on the moon in 25 years.