'Sight to behold': tourists flock to Florida for Moon rocket launch.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 visitors are expected to attend the launch of Artemis 1, which will propel an empty capsule to the Moon as part of a test for future crewed flights
#AFPGraphics looks at the history of missions to the Moon, by country and by mission outcome, before the launch of the American Artemis program
NASA shoots for the Moon, on its way to Mars.
The goal of the flight, baptized Artemis 1, is to test the SLS and the Orion crew capsule that sits atop the rocket. The capsule will orbit the Moon to see if the vessel is safe for people in the near future
#AFPGraphics schematic outline of NASA's Artemis I voyage planned for launch on August 29
VIDEO: 🇺🇸 Florida locals eagerly await NASA rocket launch to the Moon
As NASA prepares to launch its #Artemis1 rocket on Monday, residents of the city of Cocoa Beach, near the Kennedy Space Center, show their support for the mission with signs and banners
#UPDATE NASA's most powerful rocket yet is set to blast off on Monday on an uncrewed mission to the Moon to test the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule, but fueling the spacecraft gave the US space agency trouble hours before the launch u.afp.com/wFCy
#BREAKING NASA calls off Monday launch of giant Moon rocket
#UPDATE NASA scrubbed the test flight on Monday of its giant Moon rocket because of a temperature issue with one of the four RS-25 engines.
Alternative dates for launch of the #Artemis1 mission, an uncrewed flight around the Moon, are September 2 and September 5.
#UPDATE NASA called off a test flight of its largest-ever rocket in a setback to the ambitious program to send humans back to the Moon and eventually Mars. "We don't launch until it's right," administrator Bill Nelson said after an engine temperature issue u.afp.com/wFtj
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BREAKING France's high-speed train system disrupted by vandalism: operator
#UPDATE Hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris #Olympics , France's high-speed rail network has been hit by "malicious acts" including arson attacks that have disrupted the transport system, train operator SNCF says.
"This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network," SNCF told @AFP, adding that many routes will have to be cancelled and the situation would last "at least all weekend while repairs are conducted"
BREAKING The arson attacks on France's high-speed rail network were coordinated acts of "sabotage", a source close to the investigation tells @AFP
#BREAKING 104 police, 30 journalists among injured in Bangladesh clashes: TV
#UPDATE Protesters in Bangladesh set fire to several government buildings during a day of deadly nationwide clashes between students and riot officers, a police statement said.
"The miscreants have already torched, vandalised and carried out destructive activities," on the offices of state broadcaster BTV and the national disaster management agency along with "various" police and government buildings, said the statement, issued after a nationwide internet shutdown
Bangladesh wakes to torched government buildings, internet blackout.
This week's unrest has killed at least 39 people including 32 on Thursday, with the toll expected to rise further after reports of clashes in nearly half of the country's 64 districts
#BREAKING Biden says still considers Xi a 'dictator'
#UPDATE US President Joe Biden said after a summit with Xi Jinping that he still considers the Chinese president a "dictator", after he sparked fury from Beijing by making the comparison earlier this year.
"Well look he is, I mean he's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who's running a country, a Communist country, that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," Biden said at the end of a news conference when a reporter asked if he would still use the term to describe Xi
#BREAKING China will not begin armed conflict with any nation, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday, after a high-stakes summit with US President Joe Biden.
"China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold or hot war with any country," he told a gathering of business leaders in San Francisco
#BREAKING Any compromise with Russia will 'destroy' Ukrainian statehood: presidential aide to AFP
#BREAKING Putin says West used grain deal for 'political blackmail'
VIDEO: Ukrainian firefighters battle flames after a Russian strike on Odesa.
Ukraine's president accused Russia of deliberately targeting grain export infrastructure in the city after Moscow ended a landmark deal and lifted security guarantees in the Black Sea
#BREAKING Putin says situation 'difficult' in Rostov in southern Russia
#UPDATE Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday acknowledged a "difficult" situation was unfolding in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where the Wagner mercenary group has taken control of key military sites in an effort to oust Russian military's top brass.
#UPDATE President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday he would not allow Russia to slip into civil war, after the leader of the Wagner mercenary force seized a key military headquarters overseeing the offensive in Ukraine.
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