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Elon Musk shows off SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Block 5 ahead of launch and landing debut

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8 years ago

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has published what appears to be the first official photo of the company’s newest Falcon 9 upgrade, known as Block 5. This particular booster is the first Falcon 9 Block 5 to be shipped to SpaceX’s launch facilities and is currently aiming for its first launch sometime next week after a May 4 static fire test, perhaps its first of anywhere from 10 to 100 operational missions.

Designed with reliability and reusability front and center, the booster upgrades have focused on additional thermal protection around the octaweb and interstage, reusable legs capable of retracting after recovery, titanium grid fins, and dramatic improvements to the heatshield at the base of the rocket. On the reliability side of upgrades, SpaceX has completed dozens of Merlin 1D static fires to qualify a turbopump redesign requested by NASA, as well as an upgraded COPV designed to guard against the type of anomaly that catastrophically destroyed Amos-6 and Falcon 9 in September 2016. A huge amount of work has also been done to improve and redesign aspects of Falcon 9 for easier (and cheaper) production and refurbishment, most notably replacing the welded octaweb structure with a bolted alternative likely to relieve many headaches and many days of octaweb weld checks.

Aside from the biggest and most obvious changes, Block 5 is host to dozens or hundreds of additional tweaks and updates, a reflection of SpaceX’s pursuit of continuous improvement. Per SpaceX’s Vice President of Manufacturing Andy Lambert, SpaceX has “never built any two vehicles identically”, and Block 5 continues that tradition. Many Block 5 features have, however, already been flight-tested and optimized on previous Block 4 launches, including the octaweb heatshield, titanium gridfins, and minor aerodynamic tweaks to the second stage.

Block 5 sitting on the pad – harsh late day lighting [6341x 2804]
by inSpaceXLounge

The rocket is set to conduct its inaugural launch sometime next week – although the current schedule has SpaceX on May 7, Bangladeshi media have indicated that that date will slip a few days to the right after a handful of delays to the booster’s static fire. Tasked with lofting the country’s first geostationary communications satellite, Bangabandhu-1, B1046 will carry the 3500 kg spacecraft on its way to a high-energy geostationary transfer orbit before separating from the second stage and heading back to earth. The drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ and tugboat Rachel were spied departing from Port Canaveral at around the same time as Falcon 9 rolled out, and they will travel several hundred miles into the Atlantic to catch the pathfinder booster.

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Teslarati photographer Tom Cross will be on hand to capture the historic rocket’s static fire and launch over the next week or so, as well as the first Block 5 recovery on OCISLY if all goes as planned. Failure is always a possibility when flight-testing significantly upgraded technological systems, rockets especially, but SpaceX likely has far less tolerance for failure in the case of Block 5 – any problems with the rocket will almost invariably mothball into NASA concerns and investigations as the company nears its first crewed launches. Fingers crossed for the successful inaugural launch and landing of Falcon 9 Booster 1046.

Follow us for live updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and a sea of beautiful photos from our East and West coast photographers.

Teslarati   –   Instagram – Twitter

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Tom Cross – Twitter

Pauline Acalin – Twitter

Eric Ralph – Twitter

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla begins Holiday Update rollout with some surprise features

On Monday, just a few days after Tesla first announced the Holiday Update, people started reporting that it was being deployed to owners.

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3 hours ago

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December 9, 2025

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has started the rollout of the 2025 Holiday Update, as several owners reported it had arrived in their cars via a software update.

Tesla’s Holiday Update is rolling out as Software Version 2025.44.25.1, and includes several new features. We did an extensive breakdown of what was included in another article, but we’ll list the new additions below:

  • Grok with Navigation Commands (Beta) – Grok will now add and edit destinations.
  • Tesla Photobooth – Take pictures inside your car using the cabin-facing camera
  • Dog Mode Live Activity – Check on your four-legged friend on your phone through periodic snapshots taken of the cabin
  • Dashcam Viewer Update – Includes new metrics, like steering wheel angle, speed, and more
  • Santa Mode – New graphics, trees, and a lock chime
  • Light Show Update – Addition of Jingle Rush light show
  • Custom Wraps and License Plates – Colorizer now allows you to customize your vehicle even further, with custom patterns, license plates, and tint
  • Navigation Improvements – Easier layout and setup
  • Supercharger Site Map – Starting at 18 pilot locations, a 3D view of the Supercharger you’re visiting will be available
  • Automatic Carpool Lane Routing – Navigation will utilize carpool lanes if enabled
  • Phone Left Behind Chime – Your car will now tell you if you left a phone inside
  • Charge Limit Per Location – Set a charge limit for each location
  • ISS Docking Simulator –  New game
  • Additional Improvements – Turn off wireless charging pad, Spotify improvements, Rainbow Rave Cave, Lock Sound TRON addition

On Monday, just a few days after Tesla first announced the Holiday Update, people started reporting that it was being deployed to owners.

It seems the release is a bit of an apology to a particular group, as it has only made its way to Hardware 3 vehicles, particularly the ones using the AMD Ryzen chip.

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Tesla has excluded FSD-purchased and subscribed vehicles that are utilizing Hardware 3, so it seems there is a strategy to this limited rollout.

Two Surprise Additions

Tesla has added two additional features with the Holiday Update, which include a new Storage Space for Dashcam feature that shows how much space you have used and remaining on your USB drive.

Additionally, Tesla gamified Supercharging with a new “Charging Passport” feature, which we reported on earlier today.

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Tesla announces major milestone at Gigafactory Shanghai

First deliveries started in December 2019, with the first units being given to employees. By the end of 2020, the plant was building cars at a run rate of around 150,000 vehicles annually.

Published

6 hours ago

on

December 8, 2025

By

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has announced a major milestone at its Chinese manufacturing facility, Gigafactory Shanghai, confirming on Monday that it had built its four millionth vehicle.

Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai first started building cars back in October 2019 with Model 3 assembly, just ten months after the company broke ground on the plant’s 86-hectare piece of land.

First deliveries started in December 2019, with the first units being given to employees. By the end of 2020, the plant was building cars at a run rate of around 150,000 vehicles annually. Production continued to ramp up, and by September 2023, less than three years after it started building Tesla’s EVs, it had built its two millionth vehicle.

Fast forward to December 2025, and Tesla has confirmed that four million cars have rolled off of production lines at the plant, a major milestone in the six short years it has been active:

The capacity at Giga Shanghai is exceeding 950,000 vehicles per year, and this year, the company has delivered 675,000 cars through the first three quarters. It is also the only plant to manufacture the Model Y L, a longer wheel-based configuration of the all-electric crossover that is exclusive to the Chinese market.

Gigafactory Shanghai’s four million cars have not all stayed within the domestic market, either. For a considerable period, the factory was exporting a significant portion of its monthly production to Europe, helping Gigafactory Berlin supplement some Model Y volume and all of its Model 3 deliveries. This is due to the Berlin plant’s exclusive production plans for the Model 3.

The site is one of the most crucial in the company’s global plans, and Gigafactory Shanghai’s incredible pace, which has led to four million production units in just about six years. It’s fair to say that it won’t be long until we’re seeing Tesla celebrate the plant’s five millionth vehicle produced, which should happen sometime late next year or in early 2027, based on its current manufacturing pace.

The company also builds the Megapack on the property in an adjacent Megafactory.

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Tesla gamifies Supercharging with new ‘Charging Passport’

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

Published

17 hours ago

on

December 8, 2025

By

Credit: MarcoRP | X

Tesla is gamifying its Supercharging experience by offering a new “Charging Passport,” hoping to add a new layer to the ownership experience.

While it is not part of the Holiday Update, it is rolling out around the same time and offers a handful of cool new features.

Tesla’s Charging Passport will be available within the smartphone app and will give a yearly summary of your charging experience, helping encapsulate your travel for that year.

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

Tesla will include the following metrics within the new Charging Passport option within the Tesla app:

  • Charging badges: Iconic charging badges for visiting places like the Tesla Diner, Oasis Supercharger, etc., Explorer Badge, and more
  • Total Unique Superchargers Visited
  • Total Charging Sessions
  • Total Miles Added during Charging Sessions
  • Top Charging Day
  • Longest Trip
  • Favorite Charging Locations

This will give people a unique way to see their travels throughout the year, and although it is not necessarily something that is needed or adds any genuine value, it is something that many owners will like to look back on. After all, things like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay have been a great way for people to see what music they listened to throughout the year.

This is essentially Tesla’s version of that.

With a handful of unique Superchargers already active, Tesla is also building some new ones, like a UFO-inspired location in New Mexico, near Roswell.

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Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country

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