Earth Day, troops and vaccines, Voyager 1 update: Week in review

In thelatest change to flu vaccine guidelinesunder the Trump administration, the U.S. military is dropping its long-standing policy that required service members to get a flu shot. Pentagon chiefPete Hegseth, in a video posted to X, called the change a way to“restore freedom and strength”to the armed forces and declared the flu mandate was “overly broad and not rational.” A date for the new policy to take effect was not given. Richard Riccardi of the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at The George Washington University called the decision“a serious lapse in judgment.”

The crew of Artemis II captured a breathtaking image of a celestial event known as an

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman of NASA took this stunning photograph of Earth from the Orion spacecraft's window on April 2. The image is reminiscent of the iconic

In this new image from the Artemis II crew, NASA explains that what is depicted is the

William Anders, a NASA astronaut on the historic Apollo 8 mission around the moon, took the iconic “Earthrise” photo while in lunar orbit on Dec. 24, 1968.

The first photograph of the Earth taken by an astronaut standing on the lunar surface, taken during the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

One of the most well-known photographs of Earth, the

Voyager 1's 1990 photo of Earth, widely referred to as the

Because the International Space Station orbits so close to Earth's atmosphere (about 250 miles high,) the outpost and the astronauts who have lived aboard it have been the source of plenty of spectacular photos of our planet for 25 years. This recent photo, taken April 6, 2026, shows auroras glowing over the Indian Ocean.

NASA astronaut Chris Williams is pictured outside the International Space Station during a March 18, 2026 spacewalk with Earth in the background.

The devastating Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 storm at the time of this photograph, is pictured Oct. 8, 2024 in the Gulf of Mexico (renamed the Gulf of America) off the coast of Yucatan Peninsula from the International Space Station as it orbited 257 miles above.

The Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft is pictured Sept. 14, 2025 docked to the International Space Station's Prichal module as the orbital outpost soared 257 miles above a gleaming blue Atlantic Ocean, north of the Dominican Republic.

On December 16, 1992, eight days after its encounter with Earth, the Galileo spacecraft looked back from a distance of about 3.9 million miles to capture this remarkable view of the moon in orbit about Earth.

In honor of Earth Day, see these photos of our planet from space

Troops can now choose flu shot

Voyager 1 is going, going ...

The space probe Voyager 1,15.7 billion miles awayfrom its home planet and counting, is on life support. NASA engineers have sent commands for it to shut down a science instrument called the Low-Energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP, toconserve the dwindling power on the craft, which was launched nearly 49 years ago and is the most distant human-made object in Earth's history. (Its twin, Voyager 2, is also still operating at 13.2 billion miles from Earth.) NASA engineers are now designing a way to further extend the life of both probes − an ambitious plan they have dubbed “the big bang.”

Our ‘universal connection’:How the Artemis II moon mission united America

Apple’s Tim Cook is stepping aside

Tim Cook will step downas CEO of Apple after 15 years of leading the tech giant through an era of explosive growth worldwide that saw its market cap rise by more than 1,000% toalmost $4 trillion, second only to Nvidia.John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, will take over on Sept. 1, and Cook will become executive chairman of the board of directors. The move comes asApple celebrates its 50th year. Cook, 65, hailed Ternus as a leader with “the mind of an engineer” and “the soul of an innovator”; Ternus, 50, promised to “lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”

Drake’s album promo was a cold calculation

Drake’s fans are a determined lot. After the Canadian rappererected massive ice blocksin Toronto as a teaser for his new album, “Iceman,” and said therelease date was hidden inside, fans began bringing pickaxes, hammers and even flamethrowers to the structure. Some even tried lighting a fire on top of it. (One university professor told the music mag Pitchfork the ice mass weighs 200 tons and noted the flamethrower idea was “surprisingly ineffective.” Apparently, however,someone succeeded; Drake has revealed the drop date is May 15.

In Boston Marathon, all’s well that ends well

The 2026 Boston Marathon is in the books, but not without a little controversy. A Boston Nike storefront ad in the lead-up to the race that proclaimed “Runners welcome, walkers tolerated” did not sit well with advocates for adaptive sports, who pointed out that walking is often a necessary part of a marathon, especially for people with disabilities; not only that, but the event includes dozens of wheelchair participants.Nike replaced the sign.As for the marathon itself,Kenya’s John Korirwon his second straight title;fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedialso repeated for the women.− Compiled and written by Robert Abitbol

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Earth Day, troops and vaccines, Voyager 1 update: Week in review