Stockholm, 14 Jan

A Swedish artist is about to have the dream of a lifetime fulfilled: a little red model house he created will be launched into space this week and, if all goes according to plan, put on the surface of the moon.

The Moonhouse, the size of a big hand, will hitch a ride to the moon on a lunar lander operated by the Japanese company ispace. It's set for takeoff on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 1:11 am (0611 GMT) on Wednesday. 

Artist Mikael Genberg says he has been wanting to put his typically Swedish-looking miniature house on the moon for 25 years. 

It was "a crazy, maybe idiotic, but at the same time, in my mind, really poetic thought to put a red house with white corners on the surface of the moon," Genberg said in a video posted on Facebook. “And now it's going to happen.”

“What's the purpose? It's art," he added.

Genberg, who is currently in Florida to watch Wednesday's launch in person, said he was very excited to finally see his house get shot into space.