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Ewe might think we're joking but it's true - Shaun the Sheep is set to become an astronaut!

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that the woolly TV character has been given a seat onboard Nasa's Orion Spacecraft which is part of the US space agency's Artemis I Moon programme.

The test flight will be an unmanned mission - meaning it won't be taking any humans onboard - and could blast off as early as the end of this month!

It's hoped that if successful, it will allow the Artemis programme to eventually send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024.

Shaun will be taking the first flight of Nasa's Orion spacecraft, which will go around the Moon and back with an ESA European Service Module.

It will be launched from the famous Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the United States.

The spacecraft will perform a flyby of the Moon, using its gravity to gain speed and propel itself almost 500,000 km away from Earth!

This mission is not carrying a human crew but will instead be controlled from the ground by experts.

In preparation for this flight, Shaun began a programme of astronaut training, travelling to various locations across Europe and the USA to see different aspects of the mission.

He also took a flight on the special Airbus 'Zero G' A310 aircraft that recreates the 'weightless' conditions similar to those experienced in space.

Dr David Parker from the ESA said: "This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA. We're woolly very happy that he's been selected for the mission.

"We understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it's a giant leap for lambkind."

If Orion successfully gets to the Moon and back, it will help space experts with their mission to get humans to the Moon in the next few years.