Technologies

SpaceX Calls Mission 3 a Success, Despite Losing Starship: How to Rewatch

On its third attempt, SpaceX launched its Starship and cruised into space, but lost the rocket after reentry to Earth.

SpaceX launched its third Starship mission on Thursday, with the space exploration company owned by Elon Musk forging ahead after the first two attempts exploded after takeoff. SpaceX considers those first two missions successful, thanks to the data it was able to collect, and the third mission was the most successful of the bunch.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. ET Thursday, the company posted three words to the Musk-owned X social media site: «Liftoff of Starship!» A 36-second video showed the rocket engines igniting and then Starship rising amid a cloud of exhaust smoke and up into the sky.

But the rocket did not complete the round trip, as you can see by rewatching the full test flight. «The ship has been lost. No splashdown today,» Dan Huot of SpaceX communications said on the stream. «But we were able to get through some of the early phases of reentry.»

SpaceX quality engineering manager Kate Tice noted on the stream that SpaceX wasn’t intending to recover Starship anyway, and had been planning to crash it into the ocean.

Starship is arguably the most ambitious effort for Musk, who owns the satellite-based internet company Starlink along with X, EV maker Tesla and the neurotechnology company Neuralink. The Starship missions are critical to SpaceX’s — and Musk’s — goal of getting to and eventually settling the moon and Mars.

With a new flight trajectory and hopes for new data insights, the space company’s third mission may prove to be its most important yet.

When did the Starship mission launch?

Starship’s third mission launched on March 14. It had been pending favorable weather and a license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

How to rewatch Starship mission 3

SpaceX set up livestreams for watching the third mission. One was the SpaceX account on X, and another was the SpaceX third mission landing page. You could also watch via CNET’s YouTube channel.

You can rewatch the launch on X, on the mission 3 page, or via CNET’s YouTube stream embedded here.

What SpaceX achieved in Starship mission 3

SpaceX’s third Starship mission was designed to test whether the spacecraft can complete certain tasks. After liftoff, the company planned to open Starship’s payload door and transfer its propellant from one part of the vehicle to another. For the first time, SpaceX also attempted to relight its Raptor engine while in space, a test that could be critical for future missions as it eventually tries to propel Starship through space.

Starship took a different flight path this time around, and had planned to land in the Indian Ocean instead of the Pacific Ocean until it lost the vehicle after reentry. In a statement, SpaceX said that the new flight path was designed to maximize «public safety,» but the company didn’t discuss how.

The new flight path also paved the way for SpaceX to try «in-space engine burns,» a reference to the company attempting to reignite the Raptor engine in space.

«Huge congratulations to the entire team for this incredible day: clean count (glad the shrimpers could get out in the nick of time!), liftoff, hot staging, Super Heavy boost back and coast (and likely a couple engines making mainstage during landing burn!), clean ship ‘insertion’ and coast, payload door cycling and prop transfer demo (to be confirmed!), and ship entry!» SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell posted on X following the launch, naming the successful components of the test.

The mission was slated to last for 1 hour, 15 minutes. Previous missions, if completed, would have lasted 90 minutes.

What happened in the previous missions?

April mission: Forced detonation

The first Starship mission launched in April 2023. Early on in the mission, the two stages of Starship — the reusable upper stage, called Starship, and its Super Heavy first-stage booster — were supposed to separate. That didn’t happen, and for safety reasons, the SpaceX team was forced to detonate the vehicle just 4 minutes into the mission.

November mission: Explosion due to liquid oxygen

In November 2023, Starship launched on its second mission. That time around, Starship was able to separate its two stages and it reached nominal first-stage engine burn. However, Starship exploded 8 minutes after launch when it tried to vent its liquid oxygen. Oddly, the explosion may not have needed to happen. Earlier this year, Musk said on a real mission carrying payload — meaning the materials a spaceship carries to perform its scientific mission — liquid oxygen wouldn’t be onboard.

«Starship’s second flight test achieved a number of major milestones and provided invaluable data to continue rapidly developing Starship,» the company wrote on its site. «Each of these flight tests continue to be just that: a test. They aren’t occurring in a lab or on a test stand, but are putting flight hardware in a flight environment to maximize learning.»

Corinne Reichert contributed to this report.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Feb. 1, #1688

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Sunday, Feb. 1, No. 1,688.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a tough one, with some unusual letters. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel and one sometimes vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with Y.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer means full of prickles.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is SPINY.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Jan. 31, No. 1,687, was ALLOT.

Recent Wordle answers

Jan. 27, No. 1,683: DUSKY

Jan. 28, No. 1,684: CRUEL

Jan. 29, No. 1,685: FLAKY

Jan. 30, No. 1,686: JUMBO

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 1 #700

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sunday, Feb. 1, No. 700.

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.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a bit of a challenge. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, and a couple are kind of long, so 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: It’s a gift.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: For me, really?

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:

BONE, GONE, BONNET, NOTE, PRIDE, RING, TING, SENT, RENT, WARD, DRAW, SEEN, SEER, TORE, RANT, TRYING, DONATE, SIRE

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 have 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:

AWARD, BONUS, GRANT, PRESENT, DONATION, OFFERING

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GENEROSITY. To find it, start with the G that’s three letters to the right on the top row, and wind down.

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Technologies

I Tested the New AirTag and Found That Apple More Than Doubled Its Range

Review: Apple’s «AirTag 2» gets better at its job. The familiar white and chrome disc is a little louder, higher-pitched and easier to find.

While nearly everyone I know has been freezing and shoveling snow, I spent the past few days under San Francisco’s sunny skies, hiding and finding Apple’s new AirTag. I’m happy to report that it succeeded at its main job: I was able to locate it every time. The second-generation Bluetooth tracker looks and acts identical to the original AirTag, which debuted in 2021, but internal upgrades make it even easier to find.

Over the past five years, the AirTag has become a popular way to track your luggage, keys, car, bike, pets (though you really shouldn’t clip one to Mr. Cupcakes) and nearly anything else you can attach the tiny white and silver disc to. The AirTag also sparked a conversation about privacy, specifically around Apple’s built-in safeguards that prevent it from being used to track someone unwillingly. Apple later expanded those features to protect both iPhone and Android phone owners.

Do we really need a new AirTag? No. But its new features are nice.

This isn’t your typical yearly tech upgrade, like a new phone with a faster processor. The first AirTag is already great. Yeah, it has shortcomings, like not having a hole for a key ring, which forces you to buy a holder to attach it to things. But its best feature is Apple’s Find My network, an encrypted, invisible service connecting over 1 billion devices, including iPhones, Macs and trackers. The AirTag is your key to the Find My kingdom.

In my time testing the second-gen AirTag, I discovered that the latest iteration is also great. It has shortcomings like that missing key ring hole, but the Find My network is still the star. Apple improved the tracker’s ability to be found. The chime is higher-pitched and louder.

When trying to locate it in the Find My app, Precision Finding picked up the new AirTag over twice as far away as it did the old AirTag. The AirTag 2, as we’ve nicknamed it, also supports Precision Finding on my Apple Watch, though setting it up isn’t straightforward.

The second-gen AirTag is on sale now: $29 for one and $99 for a four-pack. And just like the OG version, if you order online directly from Apple, you can get it engraved.

AirTag 1 vs. AirTag 2

When I first unboxed the second-gen AirTag, I was surprised to see that it had the same bulbous Mento design as the original. This allows the new AirTag to be used with the gazillion accessories people already have. But there are differences. The white shell’s resin is now made of 85% recycled plastic. I’m curious to see whether the white casing scuffs as easily as the original.

(That fine print etched on the back? That’s how you can identify a second-gen AirTag from an original: The new one has its text printed in ALL CAPS — except «AirTag,» because Apple presumably wants to keep the intercap.)

If you have the original AirTag, there’s no reason to get rid of it and buy the new version. I can see swapping out an existing AirTag with a second-gen one if you frequently use Precision Finding for important items like keys and everyday bags — and especially if you want to access that feature on your Apple Watch.

If you can choose between the second-gen AirTag and the first-gen model at a discount, I’d go with the discounted original for most items. The first AirTag model does nearly everything the new one can do.

The new AirTag can be found farther away

The new tracker has upgraded Bluetooth connectivity, making it more discoverable to nearby iPhones, which can piggyback its location information anonymously back to its owner. A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip gives the new AirTag a longer range for Precision Finding.

CNET’s Social Media Producer Faith Chihil and I made the trek to Salesforce Park, a green space atop a San Francisco bus station, to run an AirTag test. I gave Faith my old AirTag that I use for traveling, aptly named Patrick’s Luggage, and the new one, named New AirTag. I then walked a few hundred feet away and opened the Find My app on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. I looked for the New AirTag first. I hit the Find button and then got to walking. My iPhone started picking it up 110 feet away. The green «you’re going the right way» screen with an arrow appeared 85 feet away from the new AirTag.

I repeated the test with the Patrick’s Luggage AirTag, and my iPhone started picking it up 42 feet away, and the green screen appeared 37 feet away. In this simple test, the second-gen AirTag was findable at over twice the distance away as my first-gen Apple tracker.

I should note that there are a lot of factors that come into play when trying to find your AirTag. Our range testing was done around lunchtime, so there were a lot of people with iPhones walking by to pick up the tag’s initial location so that my phone could use the Find My network to zero in on it. Also, we were outdoors along a walking path, so we didn’t have walls, rugs or furniture to contend with for the Precision Finding.

The new AirTag supports Precision Finding on the Apple Watch

The second-gen Ultra Wideband chip on the new AirTag also supports Precision Finding for the first time on certain Apple Watch models running WatchOS 26.2.1 or later:

Apple Watch Series 9
Apple Watch Series 10
Apple Watch Series 11
Apple Watch Ultra 2
Apple Watch Ultra 3

But getting it set up isn’t straightforward.

To use Precision Finding on the iPhone, you go to the Items tab in the Find My app and select your AirTag. But when I went to the Find Items app on the watch, I could select the new AirTag, but there wasn’t a Precision Finding option.

A quick online search later, I found an Apple Support page that explained how the Apple Watch uses the Control Center to do it. I had to add a new Find Items button, called Find AirTag, to the Control Center and then tap it to put my watch into Precision Finding mode. Indoors, it found my AirTag from 65 feet away. It might go farther, but our office isn’t that big.

My Apple Watch doesn’t have cellular data, so when I was indoors on Wi-Fi, it worked fantastic. When I was outdoors, connected to my iPhone, it worked mostly fine, but at times it took longer to update my AirTag’s location.

The new AirTag is louder

If you’ve ever used the AirTag’s Play Sound feature through the iPhone’s Find My app, you know that Apple «I’m over here» chime. The new AirTag plays the same tune but is higher-pitched and louder, making it easier to find.

I tested the second-gen AirTag’s chime against the first one using an iPhone audio meter app (not the most scientific, but I wanted to visualize the difference). The original AirTag’s chime peaked at 67.3 dBA, while the new AirTag’s hit 77.5 dBA, more than twice as loud as the old model (remember, decibels are logarithmic).

The new AirTag final thoughts

When I set out to test the AirTag, I was concerned there wouldn’t be much to talk about. But after my time with it, I’ve discovered a lot to share. Namely, I’m a fan. I was already a fan of the first one, and that’s the key. Apple kept all the best aspects of the original AirTag while adding slight improvements. There was no dramatic redesign or price increase. It’s just the familiar white and chrome disc that is a little louder, higher-pitched and easier to find from quite a bit farther away.

I know some people hoped Apple would launch a credit card-style AirTag or one in different colors. It seems that Apple is more than happy to have other companies do that and participate in its Works with Apple Find My program. And I’m OK with that, too.