News
Boeing’s Starliner slightly delayed, but ready for launch
Boeing and NASA have once again delayed Starliner’s Crewed Flight Test to no earlier than May 1st, 2024.
The launch was originally targeted for mid-April, but this time, scheduling at the International Space Station is the reason for the delay, as the orbiting outpost is fairly busy at the moment.
There are currently 7 vehicles docked at the Space Station, including two Dragon capsules, a Cygnus resupply freighter, and 4 Soyuz capsules (2 Crew, 2 Cargo), so it’s understandable why NASA and Boeing would want to push the Starliner launch just slightly.
Boeing took a major step towards the launch of Starliner’s first crewed flight test when it began fueling the service module and crew capsule. This will enable the capsule to conduct burns to control itself while in orbit.
The capsule assigned to this mission is Spacecraft 3, aka Calypso, which flew the first Orbital Flight Test in 2019 and was unable to make it to the ISS due to numerous issues that arose after separating from the Atlas V second stage.
Starliner takes flight for the first time during OFT-1 in 2019 (Credit: Richard Angle)
For the first Crewed Flight Test, there will be 2 experienced NASA astronauts onboard. Commander Barry Wilmore and Pilot Sunita Williams. They will both be making their 3rd trip to space.
The current pair weren’t the first astronauts assigned to CFT-1, due to the ongoing delays, at various points, 4 other astronauts were assigned to the test flight, including Nicole Mann who ended up switching over to Crew 5 and taking a Crew Dragon capsule to the ISS.
During this most recent delay, Boeing took the time to finish removing the insulating tape that was found to be flammable, finish software reviews, and review a new soft link in the parachute system. The soft link is what connects the main line from the capsule to the risers up to the canopy.
There are currently no items under review that could potentially cause further lengthy delays.
During a recent press conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Flight Director Steve Lammers detailed what to expect before the flight.
The crew will perform a dry dress rehearsal, similar to what SpaceX does with Crew Dragon. However, the test will be completed inside United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility, not at the launch pad.
The day before launch, the Atlas V rocket with Starliner stacked on top will be moved to the launch pad. In the last launch attempt, the rocket sat at the launch pad for a few days, enduring Florida thunderstorms, which led to moisture collecting in some of the Service Modules valves, causing a very significant delay to the Starliner program.
Starliner at LC-41 before the first OFT-2 attempt (Credit Richard Angle)
The hatch will be closed 1 hour and 24 minutes prior to launch, with the pad being cleared about with ~50 minutes remaining in the countdown.
This will be the first mission controlled by Houston after lift-off since the last Space Shuttle mission, STS-135.
There will be no live video from the capsule during ascent and transit to the ISS, Ed Van Cise, Starliner rendezvous flight director said the system is lacking the connection from the data to a transmission system. The recorded video will be downlinked after the capsule is docked.
The crew will dock with the ISS 24 hours after lift-off after conducting numerous tests of the Starliner systems.
The capsule will stay docked with the Space Station for a minimum of 8 days.
After undocking, the crew will perform more tests ahead of the de-orbit burn and eventual landing in the Western United States.
The capsule will land under parachutes, and the airbags will deploy just before touchdown to provide a soft landing for the crew.
All in all, this mission has been a long time coming for the company. The original contract called for six flights, and with the Atlas V being retired, there are currently no other human-rated launch vehicles (that are compatible) to launch Starliner, and if NASA wants to extend that contract with Boeing, ULA would need to get the approval to launch Starliner on Vulcan.
Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
News
SpaceX just locked up a NASA record no other U.S. spacecraft can touch
SpaceX’s Crew-13 Dragon reached the ISS in under eight hours, and NASA confirmed a record.
SpaceX now owns every spot on the list of the five fastest trips a U.S. spacecraft has ever made to the International Space Station, and its newest entry beat the old mark by more than four hours.
Crew Dragon Grace docked to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 7:05 p.m. ET on October 1, just 7 hours and 55 minutes after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. NASA confirmed the milestone in a space station blog update, writing that the flight “marked the fastest launch‑to‑docking of a U.S. spacecraft in the history of the International Space Station.”
The previous U.S. record also belonged to Dragon. SpaceX’s uncrewed CRS-31 cargo mission reached the station in a little over 12 hours in November 2024. The fastest crewed trip before last week was Crew-11, which took 14 hours and 43 minutes in August 2025, according to Space.com.
A post that Elon Musk reposted on Monday filled out the rest of the ranking. Behind Crew-13, CRS-31 and Crew-11 sit Axiom’s Ax-2 mission at 15 hours and 35 minutes and NASA’s Crew-4 at 15 hours and 44 minutes. All five flew on Dragon.
SpaceX turned a heralding moment for Starship into its greatest
Crew-13 carried NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. NASA had projected a docking around 8 p.m. ET, as Teslarati reported the day before launch, and Dragon arrived nearly an hour early. Our launch day coverage noted that the flight was lined up to be the quickest Crew Dragon transit yet.
The speed came from timing more than hardware. SpaceX’s Julianna Scheiman said the station “was in an opportune spot in space,” which let Dragon start closing the gap almost immediately after reaching orbit. “This is close to the fastest it could be,” she added. Most Crew Dragon flights still take close to a day, using a series of Draco thruster burns to raise and phase their orbit before arrival.
Dragon’s next job at the station is a departure. NASA said Monday it is targeting 8:05 a.m. ET on Wednesday, October 7, for Crew-12 to undock, setting up a splashdown off the coast of California around 11:34 a.m. on Thursday. Clearing that port makes room for CRS-35, a cargo Dragon carrying the final set of iROSA solar arrays.
Dragon remains NASA’s only operational ride to the station while Boeing’s Starliner stays grounded, and the agency recently added Crew-15, Crew-16 and Crew-17 to SpaceX’s contract in a $946 million modification.
Elon Musk has acknowledged that early discussions with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) could bring the company into his ambitious Terafab semiconductor project, signaling a possible partnership with the world’s leading contract chipmaker.
Musk confirmed that early talks are underway, but as of right now, they are “just discussions.” There is no confirmation of a deal nor dismissal of the possibility of one, leaving open the prospect of one of the largest advanced-chip collaborations under discussion in the U.S.
@wholemars Just discussions, but something may come of it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2026
The report that speculated on potential discussions between Terafab and TSMC comes from Tim Culpan, who outlined a few ways the collaboration could operate. One is TSMC using the project as an “anchor customer” for future facilities in Texas, potentially contributing process expertise, operational know-how, or capacity while Terafab provides capital, long-term purchase commitments, or both.
Tesla and SpaceX jointly developed the Terafab project, with Intel already participating on the tech side. Elon Musk announced the project in March, and it intends to produce more than one terawatt of AI compute capacity annually once fully built.
Company statements place the first phase at approximately $16.8 billion in cost, with later filings pointing to a total that could reach well into the tens of billions across multiple stages.
Intel joined the effort in April 2026 and is expected to supply its 14A manufacturing process for the full-scale plant.
Musk has said existing suppliers, including Samsung and TSMC, remain important for near-term needs; Tesla already has production arrangements with Samsung for AI5 and AI6 chips, but that future demand from Optimus robots, Cybercab vehicles, and planned space-based data centers will eventually exceed what the global industry can currently deliver.
Terafab is positioned as the long-term answer to that projected shortfall, and Tesla did something similar during COVID to avoid a chip shortage. This is just a much larger-scale solution.
If the partnership were to materialize, it would add TSMC’s industry-leading strategies to a project that already combines Tesla’s and SpaceX’s capital and offtake with Intel’s process technology. For now, the only public confirmation is Musk’s brief acknowledgement that conversations are occurring.
Tesla’s early strategy for charging units operating within its Robotaxi fleet reveals that the company surely has not lost any of that scrappy DNA that took it from an unlikely success story to the most valuable carmaker in the world.
An observer at a Tesla Supercharger in Austin spotted ten total Robotaxi vehicles arrive: one Cybercab and nine Model Y units. A Tesla employee was waiting at the lot and allowed each unit to park itself; every car that arrived had nobody in it.
Tesla wins FCC approval for wireless Cybercab charging system
The Tesla employee would walk around and plug each car in, adjusting the parking if needed:
So look at what I found. This is how Tesla charges unsupervised robotaxis at a public supercharger. Here is a driverless Cybercab showing up with no one in it. There are 9 other Model Ys that showed up too. A Tesla employee is walking around and plugging each of them in. She also moves the cars if they are not positioned well enough to charge. I love this process. One person charges multiple robotaxis at once
— Abhimanyu Yadav (@WorldlyReviewer) October 3, 2026
It’s a very interesting strategy, but extremely understandable at this early point in the Robotaxi program. It’s only been out for about 15 months, and Cybercab just entered the fleet in early September.
On top of that, Tesla is still working tirelessly on its wireless charging apparatus, and a new patent was just published regarding that product last week.
However, this is just another example of how Tesla still has plenty of that scrappy DNA leftover from the “production hell” days, when CEO Elon Musk slept on the floor of the factory, employees were working crazy hours, Tesla was building Sprung Structures to build cars in, and the company was tiptoeing on the brink of bankruptcy.
@Teslarati Sheer magnitude of the entire production system is hard to appreciate. Almost every element of production is >75% automated. Only wire harnesses & general assembly, which are <10% of production costs, are primarily manual.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 12, 2020
For now, Tesla is utilizing a simple system for recharging its ride-hailing vehicles, and that is a Tesla employee doing it manually until another solution presents itself. Sure, it’s not the most high-tech thing, and it certainly is not what people might have expected at this point in time, but it works, and it’s keeping the entire suite running.
SpaceX just locked up a NASA record no other U.S. spacecraft can touch
Elon Musk teases TSMC as potential Terafab partner
