Technologies

Blue Origin’s Next Space Launch Is Saturday: Here’s How to Stream and What to Know

NS-32 marks the 32nd mission for Blue Origin and the 12th human flight for the New Shepard program.

Blue Origin has been on a roll in 2025 with multiple successful launches already, and its next one is coming up on Saturday. The NS-32 mission will take six people into suborbital space for a quick jaunt before returning to Earth. It’s the third such New Shepard mission in 2025 so far and the 32nd in total. The prior launch famously included an all-female crew featuring pop star Katy Perry, TV personality Gayle King and journalist Lauren Sanchez.

This mission is set to launch from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One location in West Texas at 9:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. Like the prior New Shepard missions, NS-32 will take its six crew members above the Kármán line — the internationally recognized boundary between Earth and space — to suborbital space for about 11 minutes before landing back on Earth.

During the mission, the crew will experience the weightlessness of space while also getting an excellent view of the Earth.

How to watch the NS-32 launch

The launch will be webcast on Blue Origin’s website with coverage starting 30 minutes before the launch, so 9 a.m. ET. If this launch coverage is the same as previous ones, the webcast will cover the launch itself, the entire flight and the landing. Prior launches also included interviews with the crew to get their initial thoughts on going to space, which we expect will be included with the NS-32 webcast.

Read more: SpaceX Loses Contact With Starship in Third Test Flight Failure in a Row

If you miss the launch, you can still watch it later. The company posts all of its previous NS missions on its YouTube channel, typically within the same day as the launch.

What rocket is NS-32 using?

NS-32 will use the New Shepard rocket, like every other NS mission. This rocket is known for being fully reusable, with a small capsule at the top with room for all six passengers. Blue Origin says the vehicle is fully autonomous. It will launch, fly and eventually land without pilots, which is why none of the NS missions feature a human pilot.

The rocket saw its first crewed launch in 2021 when Jeff Bezos famously took part in the flight.

Who is the NS-32 crew?

Typically, Blue Origin crews have featured people from all walks of life, including teachers, business people, and celebrities. The NS-32 crew is no different, although it lacks the celebrity flair of the prior NS-31 mission. The crew includes:

Paul Jeris

Jeris is a real estate developer and entrepreneur. He has visited 149 countries and is looking to add space to his list of places visited.

Jesse Williams

Williams is a Canadian entrepreneur and the CEO of Car History Group. He has climbed six of the seven highest peaks on Earth.

Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge

Jorge is a high school and middle school teacher who focuses on STEM subjects. She was the 2023 AIAA and Challenger Center Trailblazing STEM Educator Award winner.

Dr. Gretchen Green

Green is a radiologist specializing in women’s imaging and has over 20 years of experience. Among her many accolades, she now serves on the US Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation Board.

Jaime Alemán

Alemán is a Panamanian attorney and businessman who served as ambassador to the US. He also serves on the Special Olympics International Board of Directors, Duke Law School’s Board of Visitors and Woodrow Wilson’s Latin America Board. Alemán will also be the first person to visit all 193 UN-recognized countries, the North and South Poles and space.

Mark Rocket

The aptly named Rocket (he legally changed his name) is an entrepreneur from New Zealand. He serves as CEO of Kea Aerospace and president of Aerospace New Zealand, furthering the country’s interests in aerospace.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for May 31, #454

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 454 for May 31.

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.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle could be easy if you spend a lot of time in hair salons, or if you’re familiar with styling your own hair. 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: Next to the bobby pins.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Beauty helpers.

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:

CRAB, CARE, CARES, STORE, TORE, TOES, SHIR, RACE, RACES

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:

CLIP, CLAW, BARRETTE, HEADBAND, SCRUNCHIE

Today’s Strands spangram

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

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for May 31, #250

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 250, for May 31.

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.

Connections: Sports Edition isn’t too tough today — a rare thing for this puzzle, which usually stumps me. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it 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: Jumping jack is one.

Green group hint: Do your job.

Blue group hint: Think Rawlings.

Purple group hint: Parent of your parent.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Exercises, in singular form.

Green group: Work hard.

Blue group: Materials in a baseball.

Purple group: Grand ____

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 exercises, in singular form. The four answers are crunch, plank, situp and squat.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is work hard. The four answers are grind, labor, strain and toil.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is materials in a baseball. The four answers are cork, leather, rubber and yarn.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is grand ____. The four answers are canyon, prix, slam and stand.

Technologies

SpaceX Plans a Launch Almost Every Other Day for the Rest of 2025

The company anticipates 170 orbital launches for the rest of the year, shooting past its record-setting 134 launches in 2024.

SpaceX wants to launch rockets into space 170 times in 2025. That’s an amibitious goal, considering that only 64 launches have been completed so far this year, and to hit that goal, SpaceX would need to launch a rocket nearly every other day. That’s a significant increase from SpaceX’s single-year record of 134 orbital liftoffs in 2024. For comparison of just how normal the new cadence has become, in 2020, there were only 25 launches. The average launch is every two to three days now.

Read more: SpaceX Loses Contact With Starship in Third Test Flight Failure in a Row

SpaceX can undertake so many launches because of the Falcon 9, the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket. Being able to reuse the most expensive parts of the rocket not only drives down the cost, but it also allows SpaceX to increase the number of launches each year. Falcon 9 performed 132 of 2024’s liftoffs, and the other two in 2024 were performed by the Falcon Heavy, which is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 engine cores. So far in 2025, all 64 orbital missions have used Falcon 9.

Read more: Here’s How to Watch Every Major US Space Launch for the Rest of 2025

It could also be another big year for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite venture. Two-thirds of the launches last year were in efforts to build SpaceX’s Starlink broadband constellation. And growth is expected to continue — of the 64 orbital missions in 2025, 48 have been Starlink flights.

This number doesn’t include the suborbital Starship test flights. Orbital launches require more speed to go into or beyond the Earth’s orbit. Suborbital launches move at lower speeds since they don’t enter orbit.

Starship, a suborbital rocket, is a reusable craft designed to carry humans and cargo through space one day. The three most recent Starship test flights, including one on May 27, have ended with the craft breaking up. Previous rocket explosions happened in both January and March.