The official White House account on X has shared a bizarre Mario-themed video celebrating the launch of the Artemis II mission.

Eight minutes into the flight and the core stage separation is successful.

We have lift off! Artemis II’s four-astronaut crew is on its way to the Moon.

Just 248,000 miles to go.

All final checks have been carried out and the Artemis II launch countdown is back underway.

“We are go for launch,” the launch director says.

The launch countdown is held at 10 minutes while final checks and confirmations are made.

One of the two batteries on the launch abort system was reportedly experiencing a “higher temperature than would be expected” due to an instrumentation failure, however Nasa has now said it will not impact the launch.

The batteries are situated in the tower above the Orion capsule, and they are responsible for pulling it clear from the rocket in the event of a problem with SLS.

It’s now just 10 minutes until the two-hour launch window opens.