Nasa is poised to launch an unmanned rocket to the moon tonight in a step towards taking man back to the moon.
The U.S. space agency is gearing up to send two robotic probes to Earth's natural satellite at 10.12pm to examine its surface for a possible lunar landing.
It hopes to take astronauts to the moon by 2020, almost 50 years after it's last manned mission in 1972.
Ready: The Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crateer Observation and Sensing Spacecraft wait for lift-off tonight aboard the Atlas V rocket
Flying together aboard the Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft will take different exploratory tactics.
The LCROSS will effectively 'bomb' a crater on the moon's surface and scour the fallout for signs of hidden ice, which would provide evidence of essential supplies for a future human base on the moon.
Pilot mission: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, here pictured in an artist's impression with the Earth in the background, will scan the moon for places to land a manned mission
And the LRO will scrutinise the moon for possible landing sites from orbit.
It is misses the planned lift-off, the lunar mission has two other split-second launch opportunities at 10.22 and 10.32pm.The $583million(£356) mission will be Nasa's first lunar mission in a decade.
Making connections: Workers prepare to join the LRO and LCROSS inside the mobile service tower with the Atlas V rocket for launch
The ambitious launch was setback for a day to give space shuttle Endeavour priority over the Cape Canaveral launch range.
However, the space agency was forced to delay shuttle Endeavour's launch to the international space station until July at the earliest after a second potentially fatal hydrogen gas leak.
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