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NASA picks diverse astronaut roster for SpaceX Crew Dragon 2021 mission
With Demo-2, the final certification test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule nearing completion, NASA is looking ahead to future operational crewed missions. NASA previously announced that following NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley’s successful return from the International Space Station (ISS) in early August, three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would soon be following on their own flight to the Space Station, SpaceX’s first operational crewed flight known as “Crew-1.” This mission is tentatively scheduled to occur no earlier than Fall of 2020.
Just days ahead of Demo-2’s anticipated conclusion, NASA, along with its international partners, has announced the roster and date of SpaceX’s third operational crewed mission referred to as “Crew-2.” Like Crew-1, the Crew-2 mission will feature a diverse international roster of four astronauts. Onboard will be veteran flyers, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, along with JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Should everything go as planned with Crew-1, Crew Dragon’s third operational crewed flight, Crew-2, is scheduled for liftoff no earlier than the Spring of 2021.
NASA keeps it in the family
One Crew-2 participant stands out from the rest, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur. She is a veteran NASA flyer having previously flown aboard the STS-125 space shuttle Atlantis mission in May of 2009. Although Crew-2 will be her second time to orbit, it will be her first visit to the ISS. During her first mission, she spent her time in orbit serving as a Mission Specialist servicing NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In 2019 she was appointed as NASA’s Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office ISS Operations Branch, a role in which she provides support to astronauts in training and aboard the ISS.
Not only is McArthur an experienced space flyer and well-versed in mission support, but she is also married to NASA astronaut Bob Behnken. While Behnken served as Joint Operations Commander for Crew Dragon’s Demo-2 mission, McArthur was back at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA training for her own Crew Dragon mission to the ISS.
https://twitter.com/Astro_Megan/status/1288203342250901504
McArthur was joined by her NASA and international partners Crew-2 crewmates to train at the SpaceX facility utilizing the Crew Dragon simulator. According to an interview with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the entire crew has been at various training facilities located in Texas and California presumably for weeks familiarizing themselves with Crew Dragon and ISS specific training, just as Behnken and Hurley did prior to their Demo-2 departure.
Looks like I'll be the first European to ever ride a Dragon into space! Training has already started at SpaceX's futuristic facilities. Stay tuned for more updates… and wait, how do you install the "launch" app on these giant tablet-screens? 😅😉🙃 pic.twitter.com/wD7zOf7EAl
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) July 28, 2020
Commercial and international crew will bring the ISS to full capacity
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough will fly for his third trip to orbit after having previously flown aboard space shuttle Endeavour for STS-126 and aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for Expedition 49/50 in 2016. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will be the second JAXA astronaut to fly aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon following Soichi Noguchi on Crew-1. ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will be the first European to fly aboard the Crew Dragon. It will be his second mission to orbit following a six-month-long stay aboard the ISS in 2016.
The 2021 Crew-2 mission will increase the number of ISS occupants from six to a full complement of seven. Crew-2’s four Dragon Riders will be joined by a three-member crew set to launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The increase of long-duration crew members will allow NASA to “effectively double the amount of science that can be conducted in space,” as stated in an official NASA Commercial Crew blog post. The Crew-2 astronauts are expected to stay aboard the orbiting outpost for six months.
Elon Musk said the Tesla Cybercab will perform “a majority of all passenger miles” where it is allowed to operate and that point is “obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain.”
Musk used the point to double down on the company’s decision to ax the cult-favorite Cybertruck, as its production space will be removed and transitioned into additional Cybercab lines. The move has catalyzed a polarizing conversation on whether its right or wrong.
Whatever side you are on — it’s happening.
Dodge ended the Viper.
Audi retired the R8.
Mitsubishi said goodbye to the Lancer Evo.
Ford bid farewell to the Bronco (at one point).
Chevrolet sunset the Camaro.Tesla is ending the Cybertruck. I’m pissed. I’m upset.
Fans of those five automakers mentioned did the same thing. It happens. It sucks. I don’t like it.
But I still love Tesla. I love my Model Y. I hoped to be in a Cybertruck in a little under two years.
I won’t be. But I still won’t put my family in anything else. Too safe. Too advanced. Too much better than everything else.
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 10, 2026
Regardless, Musk seems to be getting to the point that he is done talking about the choice. At some point, you have to think that this was truly a difficult decision for him and the company as well, and this is not something he took lightly. In fact, he’s probably a little bit disappointed with it, too.
But the point remains that the Cybertruck is gone. Musk’s focus is purely on developing an autonomous platform that the world will utilize for transportation, and he’s telling you that anyone “with eyes and a brain” can see it:
@PalmerLuckey @carlhancock Cybercab will do a majority of all passenger miles in any jurisdiction where it is not prohibited by law.
Obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2026
Tesla is betting that all of its passengers in the future will be okay with not owning their own personal cars and will be fine with ride-hailing for the rest of their lives. Every dinner, every errand, every trip to the airport and transportation thereafter, will all be operated by ride-sharing, and in Tesla’s perfect world, it will happen in a Cybercab.
As of now, Cybercab is only active in Austin, but it has been spotted all over the country with a driver behind the wheel in those prototypes. In Austin, the car has no steering wheel or pedals for people to control the vehicle.
The Cybertruck dilemma is one that has truly come across the entire Tesla community and while it seems to be a great idea to keep it because people love it, the business side of things is steering Musk and Tesla in another direction.
Tesla has slimmed its Cybertruck offerings to offer only its most expensive trim: the Cyberbeast.
After announcing that the Cybertruck would no longer be produced and the company would wind down manufacturing sometime in the middle of 2027, Tesla started to eliminate some of the configurations offered to customers.
Tesla has stopped taking orders for the Cybertruck Premium AWD.
The Cyberbeast is now the only trim you can order, and its price went up $7,500 to $109,990.
Estimated deliveries have also slipped to March–June 2027 as the Giga Texas line heads toward its mid-2027 wind-down. https://t.co/o28epA0ZQl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 10, 2026
Now, only one remains: the $109,990 Cyberbeast. This is truly what seems like Tesla’s last effort to deter any remaining orders from coming in: eliminate the cheap trims and leave only the high-dollar vehicle within the lineup of Cybertruck options.
Those who want to take advantage of this last-ditch opportunity to own Tesla’s symbolic pickup have to pay to play.
Tesla says the reason for the wind down is truly because of Cybercab and its importance to the future.
Despite cries for Tesla to continue production of the pickup, Musk says it is too difficult to ramp a high-volume line instead of ending the truck altogether. He also says Cybercab is what will take passengers around for the “majority of all miles in any jurisdiction where it is not prohibited by law.”
@PalmerLuckey @carlhancock Cybercab will do a majority of all passenger miles in any jurisdiction where it is not prohibited by law.
Obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2026
Tesla is going all in on autonomy, and that’s never been a secret. But the commitment to a two-door, two-seat Cybercab truly limits people from having options for labor or hobbies. It also limits people from having their entire family in a single car.
Parents with even a single child will be required to take multiple vehicles if Cybercab is truly the only option Tesla plans to have.
Elon Musk keeps justifying Tesla Cybertruck’s cancelation, but it’s confusing
Tesla has stated the Robovan will also be in production eventually, but it still does not seem like the most ideal vehicle to own. It seems like it is geared more toward commercial uses, but Tesla might have something in the pipeline for families.
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Tesla exec hints at a wild fix for Robotaxi’s biggest weather problem
Tesla VP Lars Moravy says focused lasers could keep robotaxi cameras clear instead of wipers.
Tesla may one day use lasers instead of wiper blades to keep its robotaxi cameras clear. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, floated the idea in a new episode of Jay Leno’s Garage released Monday, where he and design chief Franz von Holzhausen walked Leno through the Model Y L.
“If you fire them in a focused area, you can clean the sheet of water and create a barrier,” Moravy said. “When you think about autonomy, it might be a good solution to only clean the area where the camera is.” He added that clearing an entire windshield would take too many lasers to be practical.
🚨 Jay Leno has released a new episode breaking down the Model Y L. You can watch it here: https://t.co/umMp85UEaB — TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 9, 2026
The comment brings back one of Tesla’s stranger patents. The company filed for “Pulsed Laser Cleaning of Debris Accumulated on Glass Articles in Vehicles and Photovoltaic Assemblies” in May 2019, and the U.S. Patent Office granted it in September 2021. An updated divisional version was granted on March 31, 2026. The system detects debris on the glass, identifies what it is, and pulses the laser at a calibrated rate so the beam never penetrates deeper than the glass itself. The filing names windshields, side windows, camera lenses and solar panels as possible targets.
Lasers were once rumored for the Cybertruck, which appeared at its November 2019 unveiling with no wipers at all. Tesla eventually settled on a single oversized blade, and Elon Musk admitted the wiper was the part of the truck that troubled him the most. That production line is now scheduled to shut down around mid 2027 to make room for more Cybercab output.
What has changed since then is who is in the vehicle. A privately owned car has a driver who can notice a smeared windshield and do something about it. A Cybercab heading to its next pickup has nobody on board to check. Tesla has been chipping away at that problem with conventional hardware. Model Y Robotaxis in Austin were spotted with washers on their side repeater cameras in January, and a lens cleaning patent granted in May describes a fluid and wiper assembly for vehicle cameras and Optimus’ eyes. A laser would remove the fluid and the blades, both of which need regular replacement across a fleet.
The same episode gave Leno his first ride on Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The Model Y L pulled over on its own when an ambulance approached with its sirens on. “We got it on self-driving mode! I’m not touching anything,” Leno said. Moravy and von Holzhausen also explained that owners remain responsible while using FSD (Supervised), while Tesla takes responsibility for Robotaxi rides because it acts as the operator. Tesla launched the Model Y L in the U.S. in July at $61,990.
Moravy gave no timeline, and he described the laser setup as something Tesla is considering rather than a confirmed feature. The fleet it would serve keeps getting bigger, though. Tesla launched unsupervised Robotaxi service in San Antonio on Monday, its eighth city, and expanded its Austin service area to roughly 443 square miles on the same day. Several of those markets, including Houston, Miami and Tampa, see heavy seasonal rain.
Elon Musk says Tesla Cybercab future is ‘obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain’
Tesla slims Cybertruck offerings to only its most expensive trim
