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Crewed Spaceflight New Shepard

Blue Origin NS-8

Blue Origin NS-8Commercial spaceflight operator Blue Origin, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, launches its eighth New Shepard flight. The uncrewed (but human-rated) capsule includes several commercial and research payloads, as well as a telemetry test dummy nicknamed “Mannequin Skywalker”, designed to record potential spaceflight stresses on future human passengers. An apogee of 351,000 feet is reached for the first time. As with past missions, both the capsule and its single-stage suborbital booster come in for soft landings near Blue Origin’s Texas launch facility. This is the second flight for the third New Shepard reusable capsule, as well as the second flight for the third New Shepard reusable booster.

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Arrowverse (DC) Franchises Television

CW cancels Legends, Batwoman

The CW Network logoTelevision network The CW, which has enjoyed nearly a decade of success with a slate of popular Greg Berlanti-produced series based on DC Comics properties, announces the unexpected cancellation of two of those shows, Legends Of Tomorrow and Batwoman. With the network up for sale by the two studios holding ownership stakes, Warner Bros. and Paramount/CBS, the cancellations may be the result of a desire to streamline the schedule and make room for less effects-and-stunt-heavy programming that will appeal to potential buyers (the most likely of which at the time of these cancellations is budget-conscious television station group Nexstar). Legends Of Tomorrow had recently completed its seventh season on the air, while Batwoman had only recently completed its third season. This leaves only three DC Comics-derived series on the CW’s schedule, The Flash (entering its ninth and final season) and Superman & Lois; the already-filmed third season of Stargirl will air at a date yet to be determined (but has traditionally aired in a summer timeslot).