APRNEWS - The towering, 322-foot-tall (98-meter-tall) Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket lit its engines at 1:47 a.m. ET. It emitted up to 9 million pounds (4.1 million kilograms) of thrust to haul itself off the launchpad in Florida and into the air, streaking vibrantly across the night sky.

The ozone hole over Antarctica has grown to its "maximum size" just one year after researchers reported that it was at its smallest since its discovery.

The hole, which occurs annually, grew "rapidly" from mid-August and peaked in early October at about 9.2 million square miles, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Tuesday.

APRNEWS - NASA on Sunday launched a $1.5 billion spacecraft toward the Sun on a historic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.