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

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 26 #602

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 26, No. 602.

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 fun one, and timely, too. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, 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: Fall-ing

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Crisp season.

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:

HARD, DUST, MORN, LOOT, HAVE, GALE, LOAF, TOOL, VEST, BUMP, DOUBT, BALE, BALL, FOOT, CHARD

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:

CORN, FOLIAGE, HARVEST, FOOTBALL, ORCHARDS, PUMPKINS

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is AUTUMN. To find it, look for the A that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind across.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 26, #868

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 868 for Sunday, Oct. 26.

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 NYT Connections puzzle has a diverse mix of topics. I laughed out loud at the green category. As a Gen Xer, I remember actually singing a song about that topic in music class back in the day. Today’s categories are not too tough, but if you need help, you’re in the right place. 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 the 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: Music.

Green group hint: The Greatest.

Blue group hint: Time to compete.

Purple group hint: Teeny tiny.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Kinds of instruments.

Green group: Words in a famous Muhammad Ali quote.

Blue group: Kinds of contests.

Purple group: Words with diminutive suffixes.

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 kinds of instruments. The four answers are brass, percussion, string and wind.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is words in a famous Muhammad Ali quote. The four answers are bee, butterfly, float and sting.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of contests. The four answers are beauty, popularity, staring and talent.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is words with diminutive suffixes. The four answers are doggy, droplet, kitchenette and starling.

Technologies

Level Up Your Pokemon Legends: Z-A Adventure With These Active Free Gifts

Get ready for a new adventure. These free mystery gift codes and rewards are available for you to grab today.

After 12 years, it’s finally time for Pokemon players to head back to the Kalos region in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, the newest game in the popular monster-catching franchise. If you’ve missed the worldwide capital of Mega Pokemon, fairy-type Pokemon and a whole bunch of baked bread, now’s the time to jump back into the world of pocket monsters.

The Switch 2’s first Pokemon game seems a bit scarier this time around. Though the beautiful Lumiose City projects safety and security, recent unexplained rampages from wild Mega Pokemon threaten the peace.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Between unearthing the cause of this phenomenon and taking down competitors in the Z-A Royale Pokemon battle ladder, there’s a lot of work to do in the Kalos region. You’ll need special partners to get the job done — and there are some special Mystery Gifts that have just the powerful pals you’re looking for.

There are already multiple Mystery Gift codes you can use right now in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, unlocking rare Pokemon and tons of items to help you get started on a new Pokemon journey.

All active Mystery Gifts for Pokemon Legends: Z-A

While some Pokemon Legends: Z-A promo codes are uniquely tied to Nintendo purchases, we’ve gathered every free code and redemption requirement in one place for you here.

Below is a chart that contains every active Mystery Gift code for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, what it unlocks and its expiration date:

Active Pokemon Legends: Z-A Mystery Gifts

Reward	Code or alternative redemption requirements	Expiration date
Ralts holding Gardevoirite	No associated code. Select «Get via internet» in the Mystery Gift menu.	Feb. 28, 2026
100x Poke Balls	Every code is unique. You can unlock the code for this Mystery Gift by purchasing the digital version of Pokemon Legends: Z-A. The code will be sent to the email associated with your Nintendo account.	March 10, 2026
3x Fast Balls, 3x Lure Balls, 3x Heavy Balls, 3x Level Balls	Every code is unique. You can unlock the code for this Mystery Gift by purchasing the Mega Dimension DLC. The code will be sent to the email associated with your Nintendo account.	March 10, 2026

How to redeem Mystery Gifts in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

If you have Mystery Gift codes to redeem in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, you’re likely eager to grab those rewards as soon as possible. But you need to do a little bit of legwork before unlocking the code redemption menu.

To unlock Mystery Gift functionality, you need to progress through the main story until you reach the third main mission, called A New Life in Lumiose City.

During this mission, you’ll meet Mable, the acting director of the Pokemon Research Lab in Kalos. Once you unlock Mable’s research, a new «Link Play» tab becomes accessible in the pause menu.

Within the Link Play tab, you can redeem Mystery Gift codes — as long as you’re connected to the internet.

What are Mystery Gifts?

Mystery Gifts are a long-running way to reward Pokemon players with extra goodies. The official gift distributions have existed since Pokemon Gold and Silver was released in 1999.

Back then, players needed to have special hardware — like a Game Boy Advance Wireless Adaptor — in order to acquire Mystery Gifts. Newer games make the process much easier, since you need only connect to Wi-Fi in order to access gifts for the Pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch.

While some Mystery Gifts are accessible for free, others are unlocked by promo codes that you’ll have to hunt down through specific means. Mystery Gifts are good ways to gather precious items, add mythical Pokemon to the Pokedex and capture rare shiny Pokemon.