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

Ring Finally Goes Wire-Free for Its Latest 4K Video Doorbells

The launch of battery-powered versions of the company’s powerful AI doorbells has been highly anticipated.

Security company Ring on Wednesday announced a significant expansion of its video doorbell line, notably battery-powered versions of both its 4K and 2K models, priced from $80.

Both Amazon’s Ring and Google Nest debuted high-resolution video doorbells with new AI features in the fall of 2025. But they were wired only, and in my tests, I kept thinking, «I sure wish there were battery models available.»

Wireless video doorbells are far better for most front doors than models that require connecting to your existing doorbell wiring, which is often poorly positioned for a security camera. Mine, for example, is located on a wall beside my door that’s useless for any kind of video views, no matter how you angle a lens.

«Enhancing image quality in battery-powered doorbells means customers can enjoy reliable performance with the flexibility to install devices in a way that suits their space, whether renting or living in homes without existing wiring,» a Ring spokesperson said.

At first, I wondered whether the higher 4K resolutions and more advanced AI features would use too much power to support batteries. If so, Ring is the first to fix that issue with this suite of doorbells, including these models available for preorder right now:

Ring Battery Doorbell Pro — $250: This model offers up to 4K resolution and 10x zoom, and Ring says it features a redesigned internal architecture to support battery power.
Ring Battery Doorbell Plus (2nd-gen) — $180: This model includes a quick-release battery pack along with 2K video.
Ring Battery Doorbell (2nd-gen) — $100: This video doorbell includes 2K video, a 6x zoom and what Ring calls a «streamlined, rechargeable design,» which means you take the entire video doorbell to charge it, not just the battery — a design I greatly prefer, since Ring’s battery packs can get fiddly.

There’s also a new version of a Ring wired doorbell with 2K resolution, starting at $80. It wouldn’t be Ring without a plethora of doorbell devices to confuse newcomers, which is why I have a guide specifically for Ring video doorbells that will need some updating once I finish testing these new models.

Resolution plus an intelligence upgrade

Ring’s ordinary subscriptions of the Ring Protect plan give you cloud video storage and intelligent alerts for people, packages and vehicles, which are important but not really advanced AI. But spring for the $20-per-month Ring AI Pro cam, and this new generation of cameras opens up other capabilities.

Ring’s AI features include AI video descriptions, so if you get an alert, you can also get a summary of what the doorbell saw, including people and activities. A similar feature lets you search your video history with specific terms, such as «bike,» «truck» and so on. You also get the beta version of Ring’s Familiar Faces feature, which can ID logged faces of people who approach.

If these AI features make you uneasy and you’d rather protect your privacy, the best option is to avoid a subscription altogether or choose a lower-tier plan that gives you cloud storage without AI.

I also have a guide on how to turn off Ring’s detection and data-sharing features that might make you nervous, so you can keep what you like while ditching what you don’t.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, March 26

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 26.

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.

Baseball is back! You’ll see baseball images patterned throughout today’s Mini Crossword grid, and when you solve the puzzle, they’ll spell out a certain word. Play ball! Er, 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.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Degrees for boardroom execs
Answer: MBAS

5A clue: «___ want for Christmas …»
Answer: ALLI

6A clue: What Hamlet holds while giving his «Alas, poor Yorick!» speech
Answer: SKULL

7A clue: Wild, as an animal
Answer: FERAL

8A clue: Sphere
Answer: ORB

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Word after «match» or «mischief»
Answer: MAKER

2D clue: Bit of writing on a book jacket
Answer: BLURB

3D clue: Penne ___ vodka
Answer: ALLA

4D clue: Window ledge
Answer: SILL

6D clue: Bay Area airport, for short
Answer: SFO

Technologies

McDonald’s KPop Demon Hunter Meals Include Bright Purple Nugget Sauce

The Derpy McFlurry mixes popping boba pearls and berry sauce into a soft-serve dessert.

McDonald’s has seen success with themed combo meals, including its holiday Grinch Meal. Now, the fast-food chain is capitalizing on Netflix’s Oscar-winning animated film, KPop Demon Hunters, with new upcoming menu items and both a breakfast meal and a lunch/dinner offering. Let’s hope you like the color purple.

The HUNTR/X Meal, named for the K-pop girl group in the movie, is a 10-piece chicken McNuggets meal that includes a medium drink and three special menu items.

Ramyeon McShaker fries come with a small bag of soy, garlic, sesame and spice seasoning, along with regular McDonald’s french fries. You sprinkle the seasoning into the provided bag, dump in the fries, shake it all up and eat.

The meal includes two new sauces for the fries and nuggets. Hunter sauce is a sweet chili sauce mixing notes of chili, garlic and pepper. But my favorite item on this new menu is Demon sauce, a bold mustard sauce with some heat and a bold purple color. There’s just not enough dark purple food out there.

There’s also a new dessert, the Derpy McFlurry, which blends creamy vanilla soft serve with berry-flavored popping boba pearls, served with a swirl of wild berry sauce. McDonald’s named it for the supernatural feline, Derpy Tiger, from the movie.

If breakfast is your bag, the new morning meal is the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal, named for the movie’s boy band.

It includes a Spicy Saja McMuffin sandwich, which is a sausage McMuffin with egg and a spicy Saja sauce, hash browns and a small drink.

Both meals come with a photocard for one of the bands and a Derpy card. The Derpy card includes a QR code you can scan to unlock online content about the film.

The full KPop Demon Hunters menu should be available at participating McDonald’s beginning March 31.

The McDonald’s Grinch meal (and its accompanying patterned socks) sold out quickly, so KPop Demon Hunters fans may want to mark their calendars and nab a meal when they are released.