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NASA Shoots for the Moon, On Its Way to Mars

NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, stands on launch pad 39B in preparation for the unmanned Artemis 1 mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. | REUTERS
NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, stands on launch pad 39B in preparation for the unmanned Artemis 1 mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. | REUTERS
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NASA Shoots for the Moon, On Its Way to Mars

NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, stands on launch pad 39B in preparation for the unmanned Artemis 1 mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. | REUTERS
NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, stands on launch pad 39B in preparation for the unmanned Artemis 1 mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. | REUTERS

NASA's most powerful rocket yet is set to blast off Monday on the maiden voyage of a mission to take humans back to the Moon, and eventually to Mars.

Fifty years after the last Apollo mission, the space program called Artemis is to get under way with the blast off of the uncrewed 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at 8:33 am (1233 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Tens of thousands of people are on hand along the beaches of Florida to watch this launch that's been decades in the making. They include Vice President Kamala Harris, AFP said.

Hotels around Cape Canaveral are booked solid with between 100,000 and 200,000 spectators expected to attend the launch.

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. At some point Artemis will see a woman and a person of color walk on the Moon for the first time.

"This mission goes with a lot of hopes and dreams of a lot of people. And we now are the Artemis generation," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Saturday.

The massive orange-and-white rocket has been sitting on the space center's Launch Complex 39B for a week.

Its fuel tanks were to be filled overnight Sunday into Monday with more than three million liters of liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

NASA said there is an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather for a liftoff on time at the beginning of a launch window lasting two hours.

For the first time a woman -- Charlie Blackwell-Thompson -- will give the final green light for liftoff. Women now account for 30 percent of the staff in the control room; there was just one back with Apollo 11.

Cameras will capture every moment of the 42-day trip and include a selfie of the spacecraft with the Moon and Earth in the background.

The Orion capsule will orbit around the Moon, coming within 60 miles (100 kilometers) at its closest approach and then firing its engines to get to a distance 40,000 miles beyond, a record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans.

- Temperatures half as hot as the Sun -
Besides the weather, any kind of technical snafu could delay the liftoff at the last minute, NASA officials have said, stressing that this is a test flight.

If the rocket is unable to take off on Monday, September 2 and 5 have been penciled in as alternative flight dates.

One of the primary objectives of the mission is to test the capsule's heat shield, which at 16 feet in diameter is the largest ever built.

On its return to the Earth's atmosphere, the heat shield will have to withstand a speed of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). That is half as hot as the Sun.

Taking the place of people for now, dummies fitted with sensors will take the place of crew members, recording acceleration, vibration and radiation levels.

It will deploy small satellites to study the lunar surface.

A complete failure would be devastating for a program that is costing $4.1 billion per launch and is already running years behind schedule.

- Life on the Moon -
"What we are starting with the launch Monday is not a near term sprint, but a long term marathon to bring the solar system and beyond into our sphere," said Bhavya Lal, NASA associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts into orbit around the Moon without landing on its surface. The crew of Artemis 3 is to land on the Moon in 2025 at the earliest.

While the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon were exclusively white men, the Artemis program plans to include the first woman and person of color.

And since humans have already visited the Moon, Artemis has its sights set on another lofty goal -- an eventual crewed mission to Mars.

The Artemis program is to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon with an orbiting space station known as Gateway and a base on the surface.

Gateway would serve as a staging and refueling station for a voyage to Mars that would take a minimum of several months.

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Varieties

Greece's Cycladic Islands Swept Up in Concrete Fever

Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
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Greece's Cycladic Islands Swept Up in Concrete Fever

Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP

On the sloping shoreline of the Greek Aegean island of Milos, a vast construction site has left a gaping wound into the island's trademark volcanic rock.

The foundations are for a hotel extension that attracted so much controversy last year that the country's top administrative court ended up temporarily blocking its building permit, said AFP.

Construction machinery still dots the site for a planned 59-room extension to the luxury resort, some of whose suites have their own swimming pools.

Milos Mayor Manolis Mikelis calls the project an "environmental crime".

"The geological uniqueness of Milos is known worldwide. We don't want its identity to change," he told AFP in his office, adorned with a copy of the island's most famous export, the Hellenistic-era statue of the love goddess Venus.

Fueled by a tourism boom, real estate fever has broken out across the Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy iconic landscapes of whitewashed houses and blue church domes.

In December, several mayors from the Cyclades as well as the Dodecanese -- which includes the highly touristic islands of Rhodes and Kos -- sounded the alarm.

"The very existence of our islands is threatened," they warned in a resolution initiated by the mayor of Santorini, Nikos Zorzos.

Tourism has become "a field for planting luxury residences to sell or rent," said Zorzos, whose island -- a top global destination -- welcomes roughly 3.5 million visitors for a population of 15,500.

- Rejecting 'plunder' -

The "Cycladic islands are not grounds for pharaonic projects", the mayors continued.

V Tourism, the company operating the hotel, argues that the expansion was approved in 2024 with "favorable opinions from all competent authorities".

But Mikelis, the mayor, noted that there are legislation "loopholes" when it comes to construction.

Like Santorini, Milos is a volcanic isle that is home to one of Greece's most unique beaches, Sarakiniko.

With its spectacular white formations rounded by erosion, the so-called 'moon beach' has bathers packed tighter than an astronaut's suit during summertime.

Yet Sarakiniko is not protected under Greek law.

Another hotel project there was blocked last year, and the environment ministry has given the owners a month's time to fill in its construction dig.

'Voracious'

Ioannis Spilanis, emeritus professor at the University of the Aegean, says what is happening in the Cyclades "is voracious, predatory real estate".

Once marginal land intended for grazing "have become lucrative assets. (Locals) are offered very attractive prices that are still low for investors."

"Then you build or resell for ten times more," he said.

In Ios, a small island with a vibrant nightlife, a single investor -- a Greek who made a fortune on Wall Street -- now owns 30 percent of the island, the mayors said in their December statement.

Tourism contributes between 28 and 33.7 percent of GDP, according to the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), making it a key sector that has propped up the country's economy for decades.

Some residents are gravely concerned about the real estate sweep's effects on Milos

Arrivals have been breaking record after record with more than 40 million visitors in 2024, a performance that was likely surpassed in 2025.

In Milos, which has more than 5,000 inhabitants, 48 new hotel projects are currently underway, according to the mayor, and 157 new building permits were awarded from January to the end of October 2025, according to the state statistical body.

On Paros, which has also experienced a real estate frenzy for several years, 459 building permits were granted over the same period, and on Santorini, 461.

The most ambitious projects in Greece are classified as "strategic investments", a fast-track procedure created in 2019 to facilitate investments deemed priorities.

But "there's often no oversight," said Spilanis, the academic.

Golden goose

And many of the new constructions are far removed from traditional Cycladic architecture.

But the tourism industry is a vital source of income on islands which are usually deserted in winter, and offering few other job prospects.

The tourism industry is a vital source of income on islands which are usually deserted in winter

"This island is a diamond, but unfortunately in recent years it’s become nothing but money, money, money," fumes a resident who spends half the year in Germany.

"But if I say that in public, everyone will jump down my throat!" she said.

In a 2024 report, the state ombudsman of the Hellenic Republic stressed the deterioration in quality of life on islands where residents can no longer find housing, as many owners prioritize lucrative short-term rentals, while waste management and water resources are also under major strain.

But there are signs of a slowdown in the Cyclades.

Santorini last year saw a 12.8-percent drop in air arrivals between June and September, while Mykonos had to settle for a meagre 2.4-percent increase.

Varieties

Kyiv Botanical Garden's Plants Wither Due to Frost, Power Cuts

Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
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Kyiv Botanical Garden's Plants Wither Due to Frost, Power Cuts

Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

Roman Ivannikov has spent around 30 years pampering orchids, azaleas and figs at Ukraine's National Botanical Garden, but power cuts triggered by Russian strikes are threatening to freeze his cherished collection of tropical plants.

Moscow has been pummeling Ukrainian energy sites with drones and missiles, plunging thousands of households into darkness during the harshest winter since it started its invasion four years ago.

The almost-daily barrages, paired with the cold snap, have put lives at risk and created an unprecedented threat for Ivannikov's pride and joy: a collection of almost 4,000 species.

"Our children grew up on the paths of this garden. We have poured our lives into this," Ivannikov, 51, told AFP, struggling to fight back tears.

The temperature in the garden's main greenhouse was 12C.

"It's not even the lower bound of normal," Ivannikov said.

The temperature dipped even lower on four nights over recent weeks, when the heating cut off entirely.

Wearing a thick navy jacket over a wool sweater, Ivannikov, the head of the department of tropical and subtropical plants, picked up a leaf that had just come rustling down.

"You can see how many fallen leaves there are... Perfectly healthy leaves that could have kept feeding the plant and functioning for months are falling down," he said.

The plant, he explained, was optimizing energy needs and shedding part of its leaves in the lower tiers so it can keep the leaves at the top and "survive in these conditions".

He, fellow staff and scores of volunteers were shuffling between tasks like firing up stoves and spreading protective covers on a collection of smaller plants, like orchids.

Volodymyr Vynogradov, 66, has signed up to help cut firewood used to heat the greenhouses.

"There needs to be heating for the azaleas," he told AFP, his cheeks rosy from cold and a pile of split logs scattered around.

"Physically, it's a little bit of a warm-up... That's why I decided to help somehow. For myself and for the sake of flowers."

The garden's collection has been laboriously reassembled after it had perished during World War II -- through decades of purchases, exchanges and numerous scientific missions that took Ivannikov's senior colleagues across several continents.

They "used to go to places and bring back plants from areas where those forests are no longer there", making those replanted at the Kyiv garden susceptible to "irrecoverable losses".

"Those plants have been preserved with us, and that underscores their uniqueness: if we lose them, we won't be able to restore them," Ivannikov said.

Individual specimens have already wilted, but the scale of damage is impossible to assess -- the destructive impact of the cold could only start to show in weeks or even months to come.

"Flowering intervals will change, plants will bloom but won't be able to set seed for a year or two. Or, for example, they'll set seed, but it won't be viable -- it will be dead," Ivannikov, who is trying to stay hopeful, said.

"We just have to hold on until summer, until spring -- make it through however many days are needed."

His dream, he said, is to create a "large national bonsai collection", something he had already begun laying the groundwork for.

The institution meanwhile offers organized tours and works with military servicemen and displaced Ukrainians who find solace in gardening work.

"They feel alive and want to see what comes next. They see a future, they want to keep living -- and that's our mission."

Varieties

Sunbed Ads Spreading Harmful Misinformation

Cancer charities and doctors say sunbeds are linked to higher rates of melanoma and other skin cancers (Getty images) 
Cancer charities and doctors say sunbeds are linked to higher rates of melanoma and other skin cancers (Getty images) 
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Sunbed Ads Spreading Harmful Misinformation

Cancer charities and doctors say sunbeds are linked to higher rates of melanoma and other skin cancers (Getty images) 
Cancer charities and doctors say sunbeds are linked to higher rates of melanoma and other skin cancers (Getty images) 

Harmful misinformation claiming sunbeds offer health benefits in winter is being spread by tanning companies on social media, the BBC has found.

BBC identified hundreds of adverts on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook saying sunbeds can boost energy and treat skin conditions or mental health problems.

One suggested that going on a sunbed for “eight minutes” could prevent colds and flu, while another claimed that UV rays could “stimulate the thyroid gland” to help someone lose weight.

Claims like these are “irresponsible” and “potentially dangerous,” the government told BBC - while an NHS dermatologist described the amount of sunbed misinformation on social media as “genuinely terrifying.”

The findings come after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned six tanning adverts for making irresponsible health claims or suggesting sunbeds were safe.

Cancer charities and doctors are clear about the risks of using sunbeds - and say the machines are linked to higher rates of melanoma and other skin cancers.

Using a bed before the age of 35 increases the risk of melanoma by 59% later in life, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Sunbed Association, which represents half the UK's tanning shops, says the ASA and WHO are using “outdated data,” but encourages its members not to use medical claims in advertising.

Young people are by far the biggest sunbed users in the UK - about one in seven 18-to-24-year-olds say they used one in the past year, double the average for all age groups, according to a 2025 YouGov survey.

Other data suggests nearly a quarter of under-25s wrongly believe sunbeds actually reduce the risk of getting skin cancer.