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Elon Musk gifts SpaceX Starship angel investor a piece of Starhopper history
According to photos posted by the Japanese investor, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has gifted Yusaku Maezawa a significant piece of Starhopper history, a celebration of the rocket prototype’s successful flight tests and a gesture of thanks for Maezawa’s substantial support.
Back in September 2018, Musk revealed that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had become the first true customer for SpaceX’s next-generation Starship launch vehicle. In fact, Maezawa announced DearMoon, a private spaceflight venture with the aim of sending a dozen or so artists on the first commercial crewed mission around the Moon – all for free.
In a bid to assist Starship development and simultaneously secure rights to the massive spacecraft’s first crewed lunar launch, Maezawa committed what is believed to be several hundred million dollars of his personal fortune to SpaceX. In turn, the Japanese billionaire plans to select roughly a dozen artists from around the world and offering them a free ticket aboard Starship’s first crewed circumlunar launch, traveling once around the Moon and returning to Earth after 10 or so days in space.
Perhaps just a few weeks after the DearMoon announcement and Starship event, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk decided to radically change the Starship program, entirely replacing the vehicle’s main structural material of choice – carbon fiber composites – with stainless steel. The primary goal was to dramatically lower the cost of development and vehicle production and speed things up, but Musk quickly realized that steel could unintuitively be better than carbon fiber in almost every way.
After Musk’s decision, SpaceX pivoted from carbon fiber to steel at a spectacular pace. Barely six months after the design change, a SpaceX team had built up its Boca Chica, Texas facilities from almost nothing, begun to build full-scale steel hardware, and nearly completed the first low-fidelity prototype, known as Starhopper. That vehicle began propellant loading and wet dress rehearsal testing in early-April 2019 and although technical difficulties with its next-generation Raptor engines caused several months of delays, it moved into its first flight test campaign three months later.
Starhopper’s first untethered flight was completed successfully on July 25th, reaching an apogee of ~18 meters (60 ft). A little over one month later, Starhopper lifted off for the second time on a significantly more ambitious ~150m (500 ft) flight test, completed successfully after about 60 seconds in flight. That second test would be Starhopper’s last and SpaceX quickly turned its focus to completing the first full-scale, full-fidelity Starship prototypes, known as Mk1 (TX) and Mk2 (FL).
Throughout this process, Yusaku Maezawa has followed along with SpaceX. Rather than a simple lump-sum agreement, the billionaire’s contract with SpaceX is structured much more specifically, essentially allowing the company to unlock additional funding after certain milestones – like Starhopper’s flight tests – are completed. The arrangement is more of a carrot on a stick than something dead-serious – Maezawa is probably not going to completely withhold funding if SpaceX slightly misses exact targets or suffers anomalies during a complex launch vehicle development program.
In order to complete its two flight tests, Starhopper needed some kind of attitude control system (ACS) to remain stable and SpaceX chose a decidedly SpaceX-y solution, simply bolting on flight-proven Falcon 9 thruster pods. Those pods use high-pressure nitrogen to change Falcon 9’s attitude, correctly point the rocket, and settle its propellant while the rocket is in a vacuum (or freefall). They can also provided limited control authority in atmosphere, which is what SpaceX used them for on Starhopper.
As a gesture of gratitude for Maezawa’s extremely helpful financial support, SpaceX gifted him an entire Starhopper thruster pod. SpaceX often does similar things for major flight milestones, creating commemorative gifts out of retired hardware (rocket tanks, engine bells, grid fins, parachute threads, etc.) that employees are able to purchase. An entire thruster pod is at least a few orders of magnitude above that, a sign of just how grateful SpaceX is to Maezawa.
Of note, in his tweet showing off the thruster pod, Maezawa suggested that “Starship development is going better than expected”, indicating that he may “need to invite a passenger soon” for his planned circumlunar voyage around the Moon. Prior to Starship’s radical shift from carbon fiber to steel, that mission was scheduled no earlier than 2023. In recent months, SpaceX executives have made it clear that they are now targeting Starship Moon landings by 2022, suggesting that the first circumlunar missions – a far easier task than landing – could be possible even sooner than that.
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Tesla’s Automatic Collision Evasion feature can be seen in one of the first owner videos of it in action.
Tesla owner Spencer (@scotsrule08) posted on Monday that the feature “worked flawlessly,” saying FSD reengaged itself just as he was about to hit a curb. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI team, shared the clip and wrote, “A guardian angel always looking out for you.”
The video arrives in the middle of a staged rollout. Tesla first shipped Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9 in software update 2026.27.6 earlier this month, which Teslarati covered as it reached cars. Update 2026.27.10, which began going out on September 19, carried the feature improvements with FSD v14.3.10, according to release notes tracked by Not a Tesla App. The newer 2026.27.11 build is now reaching another wave of vehicles.
The new Automatic Collision Evasion feature worked flawlessly! FSD reengaged itself just as I was about to hit a curb.
Kudos @Tesla_AI team! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Fbp15HhpL2
— Spencer (@scotsrule08) September 28, 2026
The feature only runs on HW4 vehicles, and it requires an active FSD purchase or subscription with both FSD (Supervised) and Automatic Emergency Braking enabled. HW3 owners receive FSD v14.2 Lite in the same updates, but that build does not include collision evasion.
Tesla’s release notes describe two triggers. The first is an imminent frontal collision that braking alone may not prevent, in which case the car can activate FSD to steer, brake or accelerate around the hazard. That scenario is limited to highways below 85 mph, with no pedestrians or cyclists detected and no slippery road surface. The second covers a driver who appears inattentive, such as reaching into the back seat, or who seems to have switched off FSD by accident. Spencer’s curb clip appears to fall into that second category.
Tesla plans big safety improvements for Full Self-Driving v15
Once the system takes over, the accelerator is muted and light brake input will not cancel the maneuver. Drivers need to apply firm, deliberate steering force to take back control, and the car chimes to hand control back once the danger has passed.
Elluswamy recently noted that earlier hazard prediction, faster reaction time and better collision avoidance would arrive with FSD v15, the next major version.
Tesla is delaying its event for the Roadster, moving it from this Thursday, October 1, to Thursday, October 15, due to unfavorable weather.
The company has said it has been tracking the weather for this Thursday closely with local meteorologists, and because the event can only be held outside, Tesla is making the call to delay it:
“We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule. New date is October 15. Additional details to follow.”
Roadster event update
We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule.
New date is October 15. Additional details to…
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 28, 2026
We are sure that this is bringing back PTSD for some Tesla fans, and we know it is not ideal, but this also reveals some things about the event. Tesla said that this can only be held outdoors, meaning it bodes well for the rumors that the vehicle could potentially hover.
Some believe that this was essentially confirmed by the FAA airspace restriction they were granted, but this could have been for a drone show or to keep drones from spying on the event.
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
The Roadster event has been long-awaited, and it is unfortunate that the weather is going to keep us all waiting a little bit longer.
The Tesla Roadster will be unveiled in Waco, Texas.
Elon Musk
SpaceX turned a heralding moment for Starship into its greatest
Starship reached orbit despite losing an engine, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Flight 14.
SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday, and for a few nail-biting minutes it looked like it wouldn’t. During ascent on Flight 14, one of Ship 41’s six Raptor engines shut down early, and SpaceX’s livestream host Dan Huot told viewers the team had decided not to commit to orbit. Minutes later, after what Huot described as a lot of conversation in the control room, the final poll came back in favor, and a roughly 19 second burn of a single Raptor pushed the ship into orbit about 170 miles up.
The reversal matters because SpaceX had written the exit ramp into the mission plan. The company said it would only fire the orbital insertion burn if flight controllers confirmed enough backup hardware remained for the deorbit burn, a condition Teslarati laid out ahead of the flight. Losing an engine was exactly the scenario that rule was built for.
Pressing forward fits Elon Musk’s history. Falcon 1 failed three straight times before its fourth launch reached orbit in 2008, with SpaceX nearly out of money, and Starship was developed by flying prototypes until they broke. What changed this year SpaceX going public, and with $SPCX sliding below its IPO price in July when Flight 13 slipped, the short interest climbed significantly, as Teslarati reported at the time. A Starship potentially lost today with revenue generating next-gen Starlink satellites aboard would have landed directly on shareholders.
Splashdown confirmed. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the first orbital flight of Starship! pic.twitter.com/urjmiwnvNl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
That pressure showed up after orbit. SpaceX cut a flight planned to last nearly 10 hours to about three, moving splashdown from west of Chile to the North Pacific near Hawaii. SpaceX gave no reason, though Musk said this month the company was being extremely cautious about debris risk. The single Raptor for deorbit worked, and Ship 41 completed its flip and landing burn before breaking apart in the water, an outcome SpaceX expected. Musk has structured SpaceX’s governance to shield long term bets from market pressure.
The payload is the bigger business story. Musk posted that all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed and are “operating nominally.” Each V3 is rated for about 1 Tbps of downlink and 160 Gbps of uplink, so this single launch adds roughly 26 Tbps, about 10 times what a Falcon 9 load of V2 Mini satellites adds. The V3 is too large for Falcon 9, making Starship the only vehicle that can build out the planned 100,000 satellite constellation, at up to 60 per flight once it reaches routine service. Unlike the 20 V3 units on Flight 13, which reentered on a suborbital path, these will raise their orbits and could begin serving customers within weeks and bring in hundreds of millions of additional dollars in projected Starlink revenue.
SpaceX has already begun winding down Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida in favor of Starship. Reported targets put Flight 15 as early as October 19, leaving about three weeks to diagnose Monday’s engine shutdown before the next orbital attempt.
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026
Watch Tesla’s “guardian angel” FSD feature take over for collision evasion
Tesla Roadster event gets delayed due to unfavorable weather
