Meet the Artist on a Mission to Heal the World With Sculptures

Jean Michel Dissakè is an artist who uses his art to heal the world of the crises that affect it. He has developed an aesthetic form that he has named Moudiki, which means the vine. The vine is a symbol of life and love, and it is also a symbol of the electrocardiogram. In his laboratory, Jean Michel Dissakè and his collaborators cut and sew materials of various kinds to create works of art. These works are exhibited in galleries in Cameroon and beyond its borders.

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This French Recycling Non-Profit Turns Old Shoes Into Refurbished Resale Sneakers

Old trainers do not always belong in a garbage bin. In a workshop east of Paris, a French non-profit is betting that many of them still have miles left. SneakCœurZ collects used sports shoes, sorts them and decides which pairs can be resold, redistributed or rejected. The group says the aim is to cut waste in a sector under growing pressure over pollution, while getting wearable shoes back onto people’s feet. Hundreds of used sneakers arrive every week at its workshop in the French capital. Staff starts with a basic question: Can the shoe be saved? For director general and co-founder Mohamed Boukhatem, the answer is often yes, and he wants the group to handle far more pairs. “Over the next three years, the goal is to triple or even quadruple these volumes and move to an industrial scale,” says Boukhatem to the Associated Press. “Today, there is no project of this scale in the sneaker sector. We are the only ones able to industrialise both the processes and the collection of sneakers for reuse.” The non-profit says it resold 2,000 out of 30,000 pairs of used trainers collected last year. It also says it redistributed more than 7,000 pairs to people in need and helped create 19 jobs. Its work points to a broader waste problem in France, where shoe sales remain high and collection rates lag behind. Refashion, France’s government-approved eco-organization for clothing, household linen and footwear, says 259 million pairs of shoes were sold in the country in 2024. It says only about a third of used textiles and footwear are separately collected. Much of the rest is left in cupboards or thrown away with household waste. At SneakCœurZ’s workshop in Champs-sur-Marne, workers inspect each pair to see if it can go back into circulation. Shoes that pass are cleaned from the sole upward, disinfected inside and, in some cases, whitened under UV light. Workshop manager Paul Defawes Abadie says cosmetic problems are rarely the reason a pair fails. “The structural elements of the shoe are what determine whether we can refurbish it or not,” according to workshop manager Paul Defawes Abadie. “A damaged Velcro strap isn’t a deal breaker. A lace isn’t a deal breaker. Dirt is never a deal breaker,” he says. “What really matters is the wear of the structural materials, especially the outsole.” The group is working in a country that has already started to respond to waste in fashion and footwear with new rules and financial support. France’s 2020 anti-waste law requires unsold non-food goods to be reused, donated or recycled instead of being destroyed. In November 2023, authorities introduced a state-backed repair bonus for clothing and shoes. Lawmakers are also still working on a bill aimed at reducing the textile industry’s environmental impact. The pressure for action is tied to the scale of the sector’s footprint. According to the United Nations, the fashion and textiles sector accounts for up to 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The European Parliament has said textiles were the third-largest source of water degradation and land use in the European Union in 2020. That leaves groups like SneakCœurZ trying to build a business around reuse in one of France’s biggest consumer markets. Sports shoes have long since moved beyond gyms and playing fields. They are now worn by young, middle-aged and older people across daily life, making them one of the most common types of footwear and, when discarded, a growing part of the waste stream. SneakCœurZ wants to turn that stream into supply. Last year it resold 2,000 pairs, redistributed more than 7,000 to people in need and says it is now aiming to triple or quadruple volumes over the next three years. 📸credit: Sneak'CoeurZ/Facebook

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Art UK Catalogues 6600 Public Murals in a Nationwide Digital Archive

From church walls painted in medieval times to Liam Gallagher’s blunt verdict on Cardiff, Art UK says public murals are turning up all over Britain, and fast. The charity has now identified, photographed and digitised more than 6,600 murals in a project that launched in January 2024, far above its target of 5,000. The collection stretches from Penzance to Orkney, and from Lowestoft to County Fermanagh. It includes some of the UK’s smallest public murals, painted on bollards in Shrewsbury, and one of the biggest, on a 1960s 16-storey block of flats in Gosport. Among the lighter entries is a mural in Cardiff painted ahead of last summer’s Oasis concerts, a copy of Gallagher’s viral X post saying: “Because Cardiff is the bollox.” The mural project sits within Art UK’s wider mission to catalogue as much of the nation’s public art as possible, including oil paintings, watercolours and statues. Katey Goodwin, Art UK’s deputy chief executive, said the final number reflected a sharp rise in murals across the UK. “It has gone from seeing a few murals here and there to them being everywhere,” she said. Art UK said murals have shifted from something subversive and underground into the mainstream. Goodwin said the rise is partly because more councils and regeneration bodies are commissioning them, often in an effort to encourage people back into town and city centres after Covid. The growth in street art festivals has also helped. Cost is another factor, she said, with a mural much cheaper and quicker to commission than a statue. The catalogue shows a wide range of subjects. Art UK said 23 percent of recorded murals feature wildlife and animals. Examples include a nuthatch, squirrel and robin among spring crocuses on a wall in Moseley, Birmingham, and a spray-painting raccoon in Worcester. Another 19 percent are commemorative, reflecting national events, sporting triumphs, protest movements and mourning. Art UK said 11 percent deal with heritage and industry, often recalling industries in decline or already gone. One example is a large mural in Wrexham showing a miner holding a canary in a cage. Other murals deal with issues including the climate crisis and women’s safety. Others, Goodwin said, are simply there to lift a street. An example is Lola the Barras Pirate, a mural in Glasgow showing a little girl dressed as a pirate. “A lot of murals are there to add a bit of colour and life to the streets,” said Goodwin. “Others are actually incredibly poignant.” “Some of my favourites are the really massive murals which can stop you in your tracks,” she said. “Some of the skill involved in creating a mural is very, very impressive.” The project has relied heavily on volunteers to find and photograph works. Art UK has also used online searching and worked with the growing number of street art festivals. The charity said graffiti and tagging were left out of the project “as this would have made the project too large and expensive, but also because of the fleeting nature of many such works”. Murals can also be temporary. Some are painted over and some disappear when buildings are demolished. “There’s just under 6,700 on the website now and we can’t say this is every single mural in the UK because things come and there will be new ones which weren’t there last week,” said Goodwin. Some of the oldest murals in the catalogue are medieval church wall paintings at St Thomas’ church in East Shefford, Berkshire. Among the newest are works from 2025, including two columns supporting the M4 at Junction 41 in south Wales. They resemble Rolo packets, but say Port and Talbot. The project has also been welcomed by street artists. Essex-based Scotty Irving said street art “connects people to true stories”. He added: “Just this week I was painting a new mural and a local school passed by in a big group, on foot. The kids were buzzing and the teacher immediately used it as a live lesson, gathering the children and encouraging their interests. By that evening, through social media, they were already aware of Art UK’s free resources.”

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Structured Eating and Stable Calories May Help Adults Lose More Weight, Study Finds

For people trying to lose weight, the answer might be a little less exciting than a fresh meal plan every day. New research suggests sticking to similar meals and keeping calorie intake steady may help people lose more weight. The study, published in Health Psychology and reported by the American Psychological Association, found that adults in a 12-week behavioral weight loss program did better when their eating patterns were more structured. Participants who repeated meals and kept their calorie intake stable over time lost more weight than those whose diets changed more often. "Maintaining a healthy diet in today's food environment requires constant effort and self-control," said lead author Charlotte Hagerman, PhD, of the Oregon Research Institute. "Creating routines around eating may reduce that burden and make healthy choices feel more automatic." Researchers looked at detailed, real-time food logs from 112 adults who were overweight or obese and taking part in a structured weight loss program. Participants recorded everything they ate in a mobile app and weighed themselves every day using a wireless scale. The analysis focused on the first 12 weeks of the program. The researchers said that period is usually when participants are most engaged and provide the most accurate data about their eating habits. To measure how structured each person's diet was, the researchers used two markers. One was caloric stability, which looked at how much daily calorie intake changed from day to day and between weekdays and weekends. The other was dietary repetition, which tracked how often people logged the same meals and snacks instead of regularly choosing new foods. The results showed a clear link between consistency and greater weight loss. Participants who often ate the same foods lost an average of 5.9 percent of their body weight. Those who ate a wider variety of foods lost 4.3 percent on average. More stable calorie intake was also tied to better results. For every 100-calorie increase in daily fluctuation, weight loss dropped by about 0.6 percent over the study period. The findings suggest that simplifying food choices, such as using a set rotation of meals and keeping calorie intake steady, may help people build habits that are easier to keep up. But the researchers said the study shows a correlation, not cause and effect. They also said factors such as motivation or self-discipline may play a part in the results. The paper also pushes back on the idea that more variety is always better. The researchers noted that earlier studies have linked dietary variety to better overall health, but those findings usually focus on variety within healthy food groups like fruits and vegetables. "If we lived in a healthier food environment, we might encourage people to have as much variety in their diet as possible," Hagerman said. "However, our modern food environment is too problematic. Instead, people may do best with a more repetitive diet that helps them consistently make healthier choices, even if they might sacrifice some nutritional variety." The study also turned up an extra finding about weekends. Participants who reported higher calorie totals on weekends than on weekdays also lost more weight. Hagerman said that the result likely reflects more consistent tracking, rather than higher food intake, because people often log their meals less reliably on weekends. The study's overall message was simple: in this group, people who kept their eating habits more consistent tended to lose more weight than people whose diets were more varied. Participants who frequently ate the same foods lost an average of 5.9 percent of their body weight, compared with 4.3 percent among those who ate a wider variety of foods. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-black-shirt-holding-black-and-silver-weight-scale-3775540/)

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How Long Will It Take for Artemis II To Get To The Moon? Here's What You Need To Know

The clock starts ticking well before the moon comes into view. The mission begins with two days in orbit around Earth. During that time, the crew plans to calibrate instruments, check life support systems and test the systems that remove carbon dioxide from the air, among other tasks. They will also carry out several engine burns to prepare for what NASA calls the translunar injection burn, the maneuver that will send Orion onto its path toward the moon. That burn is expected on the second day of the mission. On days three and four, the astronauts will keep preparing as they approach the moon. NASA says they will take photos and plot their course on the first crewed mission to approach the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The crew is also expected to carry out several more engine burns to stay on the correct course, according to NASA. The spacecraft is expected to reach the moon on the sixth day of the mission. Unlike Apollo 8, which orbited the moon several times while its crew mapped possible landing sites, Orion will make one pass around the moon and will not enter low lunar orbit, according to space.com. That pass includes a trip around the far side of the moon. During that part of the flight, communications with Earth will be cut off for more than half an hour, according to NASA. Overall, the crew will stay at least 7,400 kilometres above the moon’s surface. NASA says that means when Orion moves around the back side of the moon, the crew will be farther from Earth than any crewed mission in history. “In that process, they’ll be close to 5,000 miles away from the surface of the moon which is farther than humanity has ever been from planet earth, farther than even the apollo astronauts got,” Michelle Nichols, director of public programs at Adler Planetarium, said. After the lunar flyby, the return trip begins. Because Orion will not have to leave low lunar orbit, the spacecraft can use Earth’s gravity to draw it back toward the planet. According to the mission plan, that part of the flight will take up to four days. As the capsule nears Earth, it will separate from the service module. Orion will then re-enter the atmosphere and splash down in the ocean, where recovery crews will retrieve it on the 10th day. If Artemis II goes as planned, NASA’s current expectation is that Artemis III will be the first crewed mission to land on the moon since Apollo 17. There is no exact launch date for Artemis III, but the initial plan is to launch in mid-2027. The Artemis program’s goal is to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon. The plan also aims to support a future crewed mission to Mars. NASA plans to set up a base at the moon’s south pole. The agency plans to mine the region for water ice and process it into rocket fuel.

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A Missing Border Collie Was Just Rescued Near a Waterfall After a Week On The Run

For a week, Molly the border collie was somewhere out in New Zealand’s alpine backcountry, missing after her owner fell 55 metres during a hike. On Tuesday, she was finally found sitting near the foot of a waterfall, and brought home. The rescue happened after public donations paid for a volunteer helicopter team to search for the dog in the Campbell Range in the Arahura Valley, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Molly had been missing since 24 March, when her owner, Jessica Johnston, tumbled down the drop and was seriously injured. Johnston was rescued by helicopter, but Molly was nowhere to be seen. Finding the dog again was always going to be difficult. The accident happened in a remote part of the New Zealand wilderness, and there is no official funding to rescue animals lost there. Lillian Newton, of Precision Helicopters, said she still believed Molly might be alive. “The chances of finding the border collie were slim given the remote location of the accident on the Campbell Range in the Arahura Valley, in the West Coast region of New Zealand’s South Island. But Lillian Newton, of Precision Helicopters, said she had ‘a gut feeling’ that Molly was still alive.” Newton said the small family business wanted to help, but could not afford to pay for a private search itself. Helicopters cost about $50 a minute to run. “We rang Jess and made sure she was okay for us to put it to the public,” Newton said. “The goal was to get $2,400 and some volunteers that were experienced to come along.” The response was fast. Within eight hours, the appeal had raised $11,500 from what Newton called “complete strangers across New Zealand”, and donations were closed. After that, the rescue plan came together. Newton described the southern alps, where Molly went missing, as “extremely remote, rough, bushy and wet.” Even so, a team of experienced volunteers stepped in and used their human search-and-rescue skills for a dog mission. Georgia, a volunteer, flew in from Christchurch with thermal imaging gear. Wayne, a helicopter crewman, also joined the mission. He brought his Jack Russell, Bingo, as emotional support in case Molly was frightened. Newton’s father, Matt, a former rescue helicopter pilot, flew the helicopter. “They went directly to the spot where the owner, Jessica, had fallen. And much to our surprise, Molly was there,” Lillian Newton said. Molly was found at the foot of the waterfall, in what Newton called a “challenging little spot”. She was surrounded by sharp, mossy rocks and spraying mist. The rescue team thought Molly may not have fallen down the waterfall with Johnston. Instead, they believed she may have spent the week slowly making her way back toward the last place she had been with her owner. To get her out, Matt Newton hovered the helicopter low while Wayne climbed out. He offered Molly a bit of sausage, then picked her up and carried her back to the aircraft. Video of the rescue shows Molly under Wayne’s arm, while Bingo is tucked under the other. None of the people involved knew Johnston or Molly before the mission. But Newton said the mood changed quickly once they were able to pass on the news that the dog had been found. “Someone told me that I would be ‘lotto lucky’ to find her, so for it all to pay off is just amazing,” Lillian Newton said. Newton said Johnston had been lucky that water broke her fall, but her injuries were still serious. She suffered a split elbow and was bruised from head to toe. At the same time, she had spent the week dealing with not knowing what had happened to Molly. “I’d say she’ll heal up a lot better now,” Newton said. In a Facebook post, Johnston said it had been “a bloody rough week, but with both of us back home I can add this adventure to the list. Still a great trip before our lives got turned upside down.” 📸 credit: Precision Helicopters

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Orange County Launches First Adult Wheelchair Softball Team

Orange County has its first adult wheelchair softball team, giving players a new way to compete and connect. With help from the Angels Baseball Foundation, the Miracle League of Orange County now has an ADA-accessible baseball field at Pioneer Park in Anaheim. The Miracle League organizes baseball teams for developmentally and physically challenged children, and it has now added its first adult team. The softball team uses a bigger ball, and players do not use gloves. Coach Michael Rosenkrantz said the game takes skill. "If you've never hit a softball, a large softball from a seated position, it's really, really difficult. So, all the people have the skills to play and play well to the best of their ability," Rosenkrantz said to ABC7. For players, the team is also about getting back to a sport they love. "To be playing softball again is a great thing for me. I played in high school all 4 years. I played a little bit in college. I feel like I'm used to being who I was, so to be able to play again is everything," player Amber Machowski said to ABC7. Rajesh Garg said the friendships matter as much as the game. "Playing the sport is one thing, and having this community and wonderful friends is totally another thing. They are family," Garg said. Rosenkrantz said the team is helping make sports more inclusive. "I don't like using the word 'normal,' but we're normalizing people being able to play no matter what their ability level is. That's the important stuff to us, and I see that," he said. The team's goal is to see other inclusive softball teams join them so they can start a league of their own. 📸 credit: socal_adaptive_sports

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This Man Stopped a Runaway SUV, Saving a Stranger’s Life

A heart attack behind the wheel sent an SUV swerving across Loop 410 in San Antonio this month, and a stranger’s split-second move brought it to a stop. New details are emerging about the incident in early March near Harry Wurzbach, where a driver lost control of his SUV after suffering a heart attack. Video shows the SUV weaving across lanes of traffic and narrowly missing other vehicles, including an 18-wheeler. Moments later, it crashed into a concrete barrier, then bounced back into moving traffic. People watching quickly realised something was seriously wrong. “Oh no! No! No! Somebody needs to stop him,” one person can be heard saying in the video. That is when Rene Villarreal stepped in. Villarreal, a 29-year-old welding and construction business owner who lives on the Northeast Side, said he pulled his pickup truck in front of the out-of-control SUV and hit the brakes, forcing it to stop. “I just acted off instinct,” Villarreal said to Fox News 29. “It was too fast to really process. I’m shocked.” A nurse who saw the crash pulled over and started CPR. Paramedics arrived within 15 minutes. The driver, identified only as Ben for privacy reasons, had suffered a heart attack caused by 100 percent blockage. He spent six days in hospital. His family said he is alive because of Villarreal’s actions. "Man, I feel good. It feels great,” he said. Villarreal said he is still processing what happened. “Ben, I hope you’re doing good, man,” he said. “I faced it that day, and I’m glad you’re alright.” 📸 credit: Fox News 29

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A New “Sound Laser” Could Measure Gravity With Stunning Precision — and Replace GPS Altogether

Lasers have been around since the 1960s, and now researchers are trying to do something similar with sound. Scientists at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology say they have developed a new type of squeezed phonon laser that can precisely control tiny vibrations, known as phonons, at the nanoscale. Traditional lasers work by controlling photons, which are individual particles of light. In recent decades, researchers have extended that idea to other kinds of particles, including phonons, which are tiny units of vibration or sound. The team said controlling phonons could open the way to new capabilities, including access to quantum effects such as entanglement. Their findings were published in Nature Communications. The researchers said they guided these minute vibrations to act in a coordinated, laser-like way. Nick Vamivakas, the Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics with the URochester Institute of Optics, had previously demonstrated a phonon laser in 2019. That work used an optical tweezer in a vacuum to trap and levitate vibrations. The new work focused on a problem common to all lasers: noise. The researchers said unwanted fluctuations interfere with signals and limit accuracy, making it harder to use the system for precise measurements. "While a laser looks to the naked eye like a steady beam, there's actually a lot of fluctuation, which causes noise when you're using lasers for measurement," Vamivakas says. "By pushing and pulling on a phonon laser with light in the right way, we can reduce that phonon laser fluctuation significantly." To reduce that noise, the team used a technique called squeezing. The researchers said squeezing cuts the natural thermal noise in the phonon laser, which allows much more precise measurements. According to Vamivakas, the approach can measure acceleration more accurately than methods based on traditional light lasers or radio frequency technologies. The researchers said that added precision could make phonon lasers useful for measuring gravity and other forces with exceptional accuracy. They also said the technology may have a role in future navigation systems. Researchers have proposed quantum compasses as highly accurate, "unjammable" alternatives to GPS that do not rely on satellites, and the team said phonon lasers could help move those ideas closer to reality. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation. 📸 credit: Credit: University of Rochester / J. Adam Fenster

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Walking Soccer Granddad, 71, Compared to Lionel Messi for Remarkable Skills

For Spencer Pratten, slowing down did not mean stepping away from soccer. The 71-year-old grandfather from Great Waltham, near Chelmsford in Essex, has been named walking soccer's top international player after captaining England's over-60s side to three major titles. Pratten, a semi-retired chartered surveyor and lifelong West Ham fan, has also led Chelmsford City and says he would like to see the sport reach the Olympics. Pratten played semi-professional soccer for more than 20 years and carried on in veterans soccer until he was about 60. He turned to walking soccer about 10 years ago after finding 11-a-side too physical. "11-a-side was getting a bit physical by that time," Pratten said. "But walking soccer is nothing like people portray. They think it's old men stumbling around, but it's energetic and fun. All I wanted to do was carry on playing soccer, albeit at a slower pace." He joined the England squad in 2018 and captained the team in its first match that year at the Amex Stadium in Brighton against Italy. Pratten then led England to victory in the first European Nations Cup in about 2021, before the team won the first World Cup at St George's Park with a 3-1 win over France in the final. In October last year, England beat Ireland 1-0 in Spain to win a second World Cup. "There's only been three major competitions and we've won all three," Pratten said. He has now captained England over-60s in 55 matches and scored 44 goals. Pratten was compared with Lionel Messi after receiving the player award, but he said the resemblance starts and ends with height. He joked that he and the Argentina great are both about 170 centimetres tall. "I'm still getting my head around it," he said. "I'm definitely Messi, that's what my partner Claire says I'm like around the house, anyway. I'm also a short arse... Both Lionel Messi and me are 5 feet 7 inches, so I'm more like Messi than Ronaldo. It is a nice label to have, though." The Walking Football Association divides players into age groups by decade, including people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Matches are played on pitches about a quarter the size of a full soccer field. The sport has three main rules. Players must walk and not run, there is no physical contact, and the ball must stay below head height. Pratten spent eight years with Chelmsford City's over-60s team and has recently moved into the over-70s side. He said that squad still includes five players in their 80s. The game has grown quickly. England has more than 1,200 walking soccer clubs, and it is now played in 88 countries. Pratten said England had an early lead because the sport started there. "Because it started in England, we were probably three or four years ahead of the game," he said. "It's an incredible sport, but it's the camaraderie and health, both mental and physical, that's just brilliant for people in their 60s and 70s. It's a very inclusive game. It's like being back at school, with the banter and ribbing, which is what we miss most about soccer." "Soccer has been a huge part of my life and now it continues to be." Pratten said walking soccer gave him a way back into the game after he had to stop playing. "Walking soccer has changed my life. Everybody's got something they loved but you get to an age where it fades out," he said. "Soccer is my real love and when I had to stop playing, it was a real shock." "But walking soccer came along and has opened up a whole new spectrum for people like me. My advice to anybody who's missing the game and wants to get back into fitness is to go on the WFA website, find a club and give them a ring. If you're over 50, you've got 20 or 25 years more soccer ahead of you." He also believes the sport could one day make it to the Olympics. "It's not an Olympic sport yet, but looking at some Olympic sports, I wouldn't be surprised if it did become one," Pratten said. I would like to see it as an Olympic sport." Paul Carr, founder and president of the Federation of International Walking Football Associations, said Pratten stood out at the recent World Nations Cup. "Having seen a number of excellent walking footballers at the recent World Nations Cup, our view was that Spencer by far was the best," Carr said. "The sport was only invented 13 years ago, but it's now being played in 88 countries, which is pretty amazing." 📸 credit: Talker News

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NASA Astronaut Shares Family Selfie Before Today's Lunar Mission

Even with a moon mission on the clock, Reid Wiseman had time for a dad photo. The NASA astronaut posed with his two daughters, Ellie and Katherine, in front of the SLS rocket that is expected to be launched this evening. Wiseman is commander of the Artemis II mission. Wiseman lost his wife to cancer in 2020 and raised his teenage daughters while training for the mission. In a post shared on Tuesday, he wrote: "Dad, we can’t leave the rocket without a .5 together!!” I love these two ladies, and I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father." A ".5" is a type of image taken with the ultra-wide-angle lens on a smartphone or camera, usually at 0.5x zoom. It captures a broader field of view than a standard photo. NASA said on Monday: "The countdown for NASA’s Artemis II test flight is underway at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with members of the launch team arriving at their consoles inside the Rocco Petrone Launch Control Center. Artemis II is the first crewed launch of NASA’s SLS, or Space Launch System, rocket and Orion spacecraft. The test flight will take Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, around the Moon and back to Earth.

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