Technologies

How to Watch SpaceX’s Next Starship Test Flight on Tuesday

This is Starship’s third test flight this year and the ninth flight overall since SpaceX first launched the craft in 2023.

SpaceX is gearing up for another integrated test flight Tuesday for its Starship launch vehicle, which is a fully reusable craft that has been designed with the intention of one day carrying humans and cargo through space. The May 27 test flight is Starship’s ninth launch, although certain parts of the craft have exploded and been rebuilt since its first launch in April 2023. This test flight will be Starship’s third launch in 2025.

Recent Starship launches have ended in disaster twice, as the upper ship part of the launch vehicle exploded within Earth’s atmosphere during the seventh and eighth test flights. The reusable booster rocket was successfully caught by SpaceX during these launches.

SpaceX revealed in a written mission statement that the company is not planning on catching the booster during Tuesday’s ninth test flight.

The booster will be carrying instruments to measure data that could help SpaceX potentially improve performance and reliability on future iterations of the launch vehicle and it will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico after it’s discarded by the rest of the Starship craft.

How to watch Starship’s next integrated flight test

The Starship launch vehicle will be launching from the Starbase spaceport near Brownsville, Texas, on May 27 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

A public livestream will become available 30 minutes before the launch window at 7 p.m. ET. SpaceX will be streaming through multiple channels at once — you’ll be able to tune in through the company’s official Flight 9 mission webpage and the @SpaceX account on SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Space.com also will be livestreaming the test flight from its homepage and YouTube channel.

Here’s when you’ll be able to tune into Starship’s ninth test flight in your time zone:

ET: May 27 at 7 p.m.
CT: May 27 at 6 p.m.
MT: May 27 at 5 p.m.
PT: May 27 at 4 p.m.

After the test flight, Musk is scheduled to provide an update on the company’s next steps. This will be the first time the beleaguered billionaire has publicly spoken on behalf of the company during a Starship launch window since the vehicle’s third flight in March 2024.

Musk is facing mounting pressure to return to his business obligations after a stint as one of President Donald Trump’s senior advisors for the Department of Government Efficiency, which has made contested claims of saving billions of dollars throughout the federal government but has raised privacy concerns among many US citizens.

In a recent call with Tesla investors, Musk promised to step back from DOGE to focus on his businesses. Tesla buying trends have reversed as prospective buyers came to associate the vehicles with Musk’s politics.

Trump’s most recent budgetary proposal puts certain NASA projects on the cutting block — including ones that involve using Starship for lunar exploration.

Technologies

Samsung Launches One UI 8 in Beta. Here’s How to Be the First to Try It

The new One UI 8 software will debut on Samsung’s newest foldables this summer, but you can give it a whirl now with some S25 devices.

Samsung opened its One UI 8 to beta testers Wednesday, giving us our first glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming Galaxy foldable phones.

Based on Android 16, the phone-maker touted the One UI 8’s expanded AI capabilities, allowing it to recognize context and understand what you’re looking at or watching in the moment.

Samsung typically unveils two foldable devices each summer — last summer was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6, when it rolled out AI-powered software features. This summer promises the same with the new AI features.

«One UI 8 will debut on Samsung’s newest foldables this summer and will gradually expand to more Galaxy devices,» the company said in a press release.

For now, the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra are the only devices that can download the new update. The Galaxy S25 Edge wasn’t included in this list.

How to install Samsung’s One UI 8

Want to try out One UI 8 for yourself? Here’s how:

Go to the Samsung Members app.
Scroll to the section for beta program updates.
Click Registration for One UI Beta Program.
On your device, select Settings > Software update > Download and install.

Technologies

Want to Try Tesla’s Robotaxi Service? It’s Supposedly Launching in Austin in June

City officials say they’re unaware of Tesla’s plans to roll out self-driving taxis in Texas, according to reports.

Technologies

Microsoft Copilot for Gaming AI Game Assistant Enters Beta on Android, iOS

Your AI-companion is here to help you beat a game.

The Copilot for Gaming beta is rolling out on Wednesday to Android and Apple devices. Microsoft’s AI companion is the company’s extension of its Copilot chatbot that focuses on video games, giving players an in-game assistant.

With the Copilot for Gaming beta, players will be able to ask it about their game and request help. It can also answer questions about their play history and achievements. For those who have a tough time figuring out what to play from their backlog, it can also recommend a game.

Microsoft first revealed Copilot for Gaming last year and unveiled more of the AI’s features back in March. One feature of the AI companion not mentioned in Wednesday’s blog post, but discussed in March, was how it can help catch a player up on a game they haven’t played in a while. Microsoft says Copilot for Gaming is to help solve the time management problem gamers tend to have by making them spend less time on certain tasks and more time on playing games. Copilot for Gaming is also supposed to act as a coach to help a player get better at a game.

Getting access to the beta depends on your region and what device you own. The test is happening in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and other regions. Those with Android devices can download the beta from the Google Play Store. For iOS device owners, they would have had to sign up for the Xbox beta app on Apple’s TestFlight. There are limited spots, so unless you’ve already signed up, it’s unlikely you can sign up now as it’s currently full. Microsoft says Copilot for Gaming beta will soon come to the Game Bar on Windows PCs.

Microsoft didn’t say how long the beta would last, or if it would come to the Xbox Series consoles instead of having it on a phone or tablet.