Technologies

Gayle King Defends Recent All-Female Blue Origin Flight After Critics’ Jabs

The celebrity passengers landed safely, but Jeff Bezos nearly face-planted, and Wendy’s tweeted jokes at Perry.

An all-female crew went briefly to space for an 11-minute flight on Monday. The criticism that followed has lasted much longer.

Pop star Katy Perry, author and former journalist Lauren Sanchez, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn, film producer Kerianne Flynn and CBS host Gayle King were on Blue Origin’s successful NS-31 flight this week.

The crew rolled to the launchpad in Rivian electric trucks and took an elevator up to board the crew capsule. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Sanchez’s fiancé, personally escorted them to the rocket. The flight lasted about 11 minutes. Perry sang What a Wonderful World during the flight, although choppy audio made it difficult to hear the women at times during the livestream.

This was the first all-female spaceflight since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo spaceflight in 1963. Tereshkova was the first woman in space.

Bezos was waiting to greet the crew at the landing site and apparently stepped in a small hole and fell, almost landing on his face. Social media replayed the moment over and over.

Wrote one X user, «Excuse me while I watch Jeff Bezos faceplant a million times.»

Criticism — and defense — of flight

The criticism began even before the women took off. On the Today show on April 3, actor Olivia Munn dissed the event.

«There are so many other things that are so important in the world right now,» Munn said on the show. «What’s the point? Is it historic that you guys are going on a ride? I think it’s a bit gluttonous.»

For some reason, fast-food chain Wendy’s, known for its witty tweets, took aim at Perry after she landed. First, Wendy’s tweeted, «Can we send her back?»

The company also tweeted a photo of Perry kissing the ground after returning to Earth and captioned it «I kissed the ground and i liked it.» (Perry’s 2008 song I Kissed a Girl contained the line «I kissed a girl and I liked it.»)

Then, when another X user asked, «She was only up there for like 10mins, right?» the Wendy’s account responded snarkily with, «don’t short change her it was 11 minutes.»

But the women defended their flight.

«I’m not going to let you steal our joy, but most people are really excited and cheering us on and realize what this mission means to young women, young girls and boys too,» King said in a press conference after the return.

And Bowe, the aerospace engineer, defended the scientific part of the trip.

«We advanced science today,» Bowe said. «More people are going to be able to do meaningful research with Blue Origin because we collected data. And it wasn’t just plant biology — we studied human physiology, we contributed to the knowledge base of what people know about women. … We are inspiring the world right now.»

Watch Katy Perry visit space

The New Shepard spacecraft launched from West Texas at about 8:30 a.m. CT on Monday. Relive the mission through Blue Origin’s livestream replay on YouTube.

Does New Shepard reach space?

There’s an ongoing debate about what represents space. For example, everyone agrees the International Space Station is in space, but commercial rocket rides like what Blue Origin operates fall into a gray zone. One benchmark is the Karman line, an imaginary line 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.

NASA recognizes that «there’s really no clear boundary between where Earth’s atmosphere ends and outer space begins» but says most scientists recognize the Karman line as the transition point to space. So unless you want to get into a nitpicky argument, Perry and the others made a brief visit to space during their flight.

The women experienced weightlessness after the spacecraft passed the Karman line. The return trip involved a gentle parachute-assisted landing of the capsule.

This was the 11th human flight for the New Shepard program. Blue Origin had previously flown 52 people into space, including Star Trek’s William Shatner, Good Morning America host Michael Strahan and Bezos.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for March 15, #1730

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for March 15, No. 1,730.

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 fairly common word, but the beginning letter is one I rarely guess. 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 two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with E.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a mark that a student receives in a class.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is GRADE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, March 14, No. 1729, was ANKLE.

Recent Wordle answers

March 10, No. 1725: SHOAL

March 11, No. 1726: TEDDY

March 12, No. 1727: SMELL

March 13, No. 1728: EATEN

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 15, #538

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 15, No. 538.

Looking for the most recent regular 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 and Strands puzzles.

Today is Selection Sunday, and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is all about the NCAA basketball tournament. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

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

Yellow group hint: Oops!

Green group hint: Not the second word.

Blue group hint: They direct the team.

Purple group hint: They made it to the Big Dance.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Basketball fouls.

Green group: First words in NCAA tournament rounds.

Blue group: Women’s college basketball coaches.

Purple group: Teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament.

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

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball fouls. The four answers are block, charge, hold and reach-in.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words in NCAA tournament rounds. The four answers are elite, final, second and sweet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is women’s college basketball coaches. The four answers are Auriemma, Close, Ivey and Staley.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament. The four answers are Gonzaga, High Point, Queens and Troy.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, March 15

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 15.

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

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Today’s wasn’t terribly tough, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.