RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Algeria player Mohamed Amoura says he meant no disrespect after he appeared to mock the statuesque Congo supporter paying tribute to slain independence hero Patrice Lumumba at the Africa Cup of Nations.
During his celebrations after Algeria’s dramatic 1-0 win over Congo on Tuesday, Amoura mimicked the fan’s posture with his right hand raised before he slumped down and lay on the field with his head resting on his hand.
The fan, Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, has become a social media star at the Africa Cup for posing as a statue of Lumumba on a pedestal with his right hand raised and staying entirely still for the team’s games. He stayed that way for more than 90 minutes Tuesday, then another 30 as the game went to extra time.
Amoura said he was unaware of the significance of what “Lumumba Vea” as he’s known represents.
“I simply wanted to joke around, in a good-natured way, without any ill intent or desire to provoke anyone,” Amoura wrote in a social media post.
Lumumba is widely hailed as the nationalist activist who helped end Belgium’s colonial rule over Congo in 1960. He became the new independent country’s first prime minister and was seen as one of Africa’s most promising new leaders, but he was killed within a year during a struggle against a Belgian-backed secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region.
“I respect Congo and its team. Frankly, I wish them all the best and I hope they qualify for the World Cup,” Amoura wrote. “If my attitude was misunderstood, I sincerely regret it, because that was absolutely not my intention.”
By way of apology, Algeria team officials visited Nkuka Mboladinga before he left Morocco and presented him with an Algeria shirt with the name “Lumumba” on the back and another with Amoura’s name.
Congo can clinch one of the last qualification places for the World Cup with a win over New Caledonia or Jamaica in a playoff in Mexico on March 31.
The Fennec Foxes next play Nigeria in the Africa Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
AP at the Africa Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-cup-of-nations
Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a DR Congo fan impersonating late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba poses before the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match between Algeria and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a DR Congo fan impersonating late Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba poses before the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match between Algeria and DR Congo in Rabat, Morocco, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.
The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule bolted out of orbit around Earth right on cue and chased after the moon to nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.
It was the first such engine firing for a space crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot on Dec. 7, 1972. NASA said that preliminary reports indicate it went well.
NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.
Now committed to the moon, the Artemis II test flight is the opening act for NASA’s grand plans for a moon base and sustained lunar living.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will dash past the moon then hang a U-turn and zip straight home without stopping on land. In the process, they will become the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970. They also may become the fastest during their reentry at flight’s end on April 10.
Glover, Koch and Hansen already have made history as the first Black, the first woman and the first non-U.S. citizen to launch to the moon. Apollo’s 24 lunar travelers were all white men.
To set the mood for the day’s main event, Mission Control woke up the crew with John Legend’s “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000 and a medley of NASA teams cheering them.
“We are ready to go,” Glover said.
Mission Control gave the final go-ahead minutes before the critical engine firing, telling the astronauts that they were embarking on “humanity’s lunar homecoming arc” to bring them back to Earth.
Koch replied: “With this burn to the moon, we do not leave Earth. We choose it.”
The next major milestone will be Monday’s lunar flyby.
Orion will zoom 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beyond the moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side, at least for human eyes. The cosmos will even treat the Artemis II astronauts to a total solar eclipse as the moon temporarily blocks the sun from their perspective.
While awaiting their orbital departure earlier Thursday, the astronauts savored the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her old stomping ground.
“It is just absolutely phenomenal,” radioed Koch, who spent a year at an Antarctic research station before joining NASA.
NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028. Orion’s toilet may need some design tweaks before that happens.
The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned as soon as the Artemis crew reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Koch through some plumbing tricks and she finally got it going, but not before having to resort to using contingency urine storage bags.
Controllers also managed to bump up the cabin temperature. It was so cold earlier in the flight that the astronauts had to dig into their suitcases for long-sleeved clothes.
The contingency urine bags came in handy later in the day. Mission Control ordered the crew to fill a bunch of the empty bags with water from the capsule’s dispenser. A valve issue arose with the dispenser following liftoff, and NASA wanted plenty of drinking water on hand for the crew in case the problem worsened. The astronauts used straws and syringes to fill the pouches with more than 2 gallons (7 liters) worth before pivoting to the moon.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
In this photo provided by NASA, a view of the Earth from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, an Artemis program patch floating in the International Space Station's cupola, on March 30, 2026. (Jessica Meir/NASA via AP)
Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
