Technologies

Blue Origin sends Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan to space and back

Also aboard the successful third crewed flight: the eldest daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

Blue Origin successfully completed the 19th flight of its New Shepard rocket on Saturday, and for the first time a member of the Shepard family was aboard.

Laura Shepard Churchley, eldest daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, joined former NFL titan and current Good Morning America host Michael Strahan as honorary guests for the flight. «It’s almost like an out-of-body experience,» Strahan told a reporter after the flight. «It’s hard to even believe it happened.»

Four paying customers were also in the crew cabin, marking the first time a full group of six passengers has made the trip to the edge of space and back with the help of billionaire Jeff Bezos’ side gig.

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The mission, dubbed NS-19, also featured four paying customers: space industry executive Dylan Taylor (CEO of Voyager Space Holdings and founder of nonprofit Space for Humanity); investor Evan Dick; and Bess Ventures founder Lane Bess and Cameron Bess.

«Lane and Cameron Bess will become the first parent-child pair to fly in space,» Blue Origin said in a statement prior to launch.

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The New Shepard rocket blasted off from the company’s West Texas launch facility at 7 a.m. PT. The flight was originally set for Wednesday, but forecast winds delayed it.

Within minutes of launch, the booster stage lofted the crew capsule to a high altitude where it separated and continued on to more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth, the commonly accepted beginning of outer space (though that’s complicated).

While the crew enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness and an unparalleled view, the booster returned for a successful landing near the launch pad. The newly minted astronauts then reentered earth’s atmosphere for a soft landing back in the high desert with the help of multiple parachutes.

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The whole thing was over in just about 15 minutes, but Strahan tweeted that it was «surreal» and «unbelievable.»

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NS-19 is the third launch of a New Shepard to carry humans to space. The first crewed launch carried Bezos, his brother, and aviation pioneer Wally Funk, along with one paying customer. The second saw a Blue Origin employee, two paying customers, and sci-fi legend William Shatner in the crew cabin.

No word yet on who might be up next.

Other players in the game of commercial spaceflight include Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which in September sent the civilian crew of its Inspiration4 mission orbiting around the Earth nearly 50 times, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which in July sent the British billionaire and others on a brief jaunt to the edge of space.

Technologies

This Transformable Electric Truck Could Become the Cheapest EV in the US

Merging retro touches with a high-tech electric platform, the Slate Truck offers a customizable, budget-friendly alternative to traditional EVs.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #686

Hints and answers for Connections for April 27, #686.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle might make you hungry — especially if you spot the four words in the blue category. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Do the math.

Green group hint: Tresses.

Blue group hint: Munchies.

Purple group hint: Think Stockholm.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Calculator buttons.

Green group: Amounts of hair.

Blue group: Salty snack unit.

Purple group: Swedish ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is calculator buttons. The four answers are equals, minus, percent and times.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is amounts of hair. The four answers are lock, shock, thatch and tuft.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is salty snack unit. The four answers are Combo, Goldfish, Ruffle and Taki.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Swedish ____. The four answers are Chef, Fish, massage and meatball.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #420

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 420 for April 27.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Sleep used to be so simple, but now it can be complex, as we try to add in extra things to help us get that good night’s rest. Today’s NYT Strands puzzle highlights sleep assistance, and a few of the words are tricky. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Sleep tight

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Zzzzz…

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BEDS, MINE, TAKE, TAKES, TAKER, STAKE, LATS, EARL, PLUG, PLUGS, ROUT, MIKE, DATE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: