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NASA installs SpaceX-delivered docking adapter for Crew Dragon, Boeing Starliner missions
Launched on July 25th, SpaceX’s CRS-18 Cargo Dragon successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) a few days later, delivering a major piece of space station hardware in its unpressurized trunk.
Known as International Docking Adapter 3 (IDA-3), the docking port will quite literally open the door for future commercial missions to the space station. Some 25 days after arriving at the ISS, NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan performed a six-hour spacewalk (also known as an extra-vehicular activity or EVA) on August 21st, over the course of which they successfully installed IDA-3 on the outside of the space station.
On Monday, August 19th, IDA-3 was extracted from Cargo Dragon’s expendable trunk using Canadarm-2 and stored a few feet away from the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA-3) on the station’s Harmony module. The PMA-3 is a leftover from the days of Space Shuttle and has thus been unused since 2011 – IDA-3’s installation means that the old hardware will be able to finally return to operational use.
The successful spacewalk was the fifth of this year and 218th overall. Astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan worked outside of the ISS to complete the tethering process and install power and data connectors, spending much of the 6.5 hours simply attaching and routing new cabling, extremely difficult to do in NASA’s semi-rigid EVA spacesuits. Astronaut Christina Koch assisted the duo from inside the station.
IDA-2, IDA-3’s predecessor, was successfully installed way back in August 2016, while the docking port was used for the first time ever just six months ago, when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft – as part of its inaugural orbital launch – autonomously docked at IDA-2 on March 3rd, 2019. IDA-1 was sadly destroyed after a Falcon 9 upper stage failed catastrophically in June 2015, resulting in the total loss of Cargo Dragon CRS-7 and its array of ISS-bound cargo. Although far from the first, IDA-3 is still an extremely important addition to the ISS, particularly with respect to assuring redundancy and future accessibility for numerous spacecraft.
IDA’s are meant to serve as truly international ports, built by Boeing from a partially open-source design with parts from companies located in 25 different states and primary structures produced by Russian company RSC-Energia.
Both adapters feature a standard design, uniform docking requirements, and fittings for power and data transfer, all of which which are readily available to spacecraft designers to help streamline and simplify docking procedures. The IDA (technically, IDSS) standard has been adopted by both SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, while Russia may also adopt the standard on its next-generation Federation spacecraft, meant to replace Soyuz sometime in the 2020s.
Both US capsules – currently in various stages of production and flight preparations – will be able to autonomously dock with either IDA-2 or -3, as will SpaceX’s Crew Dragon-derived Dragon 2, to be used for SpaceX’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) contract. With two IDA adapters, a SpaceX and Boeing crew capsule or two SpaceX Dragon 2s could simultaneously dock with the ISS.
Unlike the berthing process used by Cargo Dragon, Cygnus, and (prospectively) Dream Chaser, the docking adapters allow for spacecraft to perform autonomous docking maneuvers. Berthing instead involves the spacecraft in question station-keeping just a few meters away from the ISS while astronaut operators manually ‘grab’ the spacecraft with a giant, robotic arm known as Canadarm2.
While the installation of a second adapter is certainly a step in the right direction to support a larger commercial customer base, there are many more steps to get through before the ISS can begin to support regular visits from Crew Dragon and Starliner. Both SpaceX and Boeing are hopeful that their capsules will be ready for their crewed launch debuts (Demo-2 and OFT, respectively) before 2019 is out, although delays into 2020 are extremely likely for both NASA Commercial Crew providers.
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The Tesla Model Y L is arguably the most hyped trim of the all-electric crossover, other than the Performance configuration that comes with white-knuckle speed and sports car-level handling.
However, it is not all perfect. Tesla owners in China who took delivery of the Model Y L, denoted with an L to highlight its longer wheelbase, are experiencing what they are referring to as “collapsing” of the rear wheels, as suspension issues appear to be an issue with some of the builds.
🚨 Model Y L owners in China report rear suspension sag
• Six-seat long-wheelbase Y. Shanghai. On sale since August 2025
• Owners say the rear tire-to-arch gap shrinks after mileage or a full load. Some cases after about 9,000 km loaded. Others near 30,000 km
• Tesla service… pic.twitter.com/Lr6i5Tbi07— Joe Hansen (@joehansen) September 1, 2026
The gap between the wheel arch and tire has narrowed to the point that “not even a single finger” could fit, according to a report from Car News China. The failures are not tied to a specific mileage, as one owner said that after just 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), they noticed the suspension issue when their car was fully loaded.
Another one had the issue at 30,000 kilometers (18,640 miles) and noticed that the wheel gap shrank to two fingers, so not as drastic as the person who reported a similar issue at 9,000 km.
Tesla Model Y L is gaining momentum in China’s premium segment
Along with the visual recognition of the issue, others are saying the sagging is causing abnormal wear on the inside of the tires. Extra weight and instant torque already provide additional stress on the tires in electric vehicles during normal operation, so it is no surprise that this is another complaint.
There has been no recall issued by Tesla, and the company has not yet publicly acknowledged the issue.
Some are suggesting that owners use a “finger test” to self-diagnose whether there is an issue with the suspension. There should be four fingers between the tire and the wheel well; anything less than that starts to get dicey.
Tesla is starting to truly tease and hype its groundbreaking Cybercab event, which takes place tomorrow in Austin, Texas. It will be the first time members of the public will be able to ride in a Cybercab, a vehicle without any manual controls, on public roads.
Tesla has been dropping some hype on X over the past several days, but this morning, the excitement has truly started to build up for the event. Although Cybercab has been unveiled before, this is truly Tesla’s announcement that it is ready to start offering autonomous rides for public passengers in its new ride-hailing-geared vehicle for the first time.
The hype has started with a variety of different social media posts that are a true indication that Tesla is preparing for something big. Teasing so much of the potential of Cybercab, including its ability to truly revolutionize how people hail rides for local travel, is what the big idea for the event entails. The time that many Tesla owners, fans, and investors have been waiting for is potentially here:
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 2, 2026
The event has remained slim on details. Even invitees are still awaiting true details about what the event will entail, where they’ll go, and what is in store for the evening. This is pretty typical for an event run by Tesla; they keep things under wraps for the most part until the very last minute.
However, there is no secret about what the real intention of Tesla is for this event: it is going to be a huge reveal party for a vehicle that has no steering wheel and no pedals. It is a truly massive step for the company moving forward.
No steering wheel, no pedals
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) September 2, 2026
Speculation persists as to whether this is going to be an event that simply announces that rides will begin with the Cybercab, or it will be something more substantial. Tesla has said in the past that they plan to sell the Cybercab to the general public in what could become a great way to earn passive income by adding it to a more global fleet of Robotaxi-geared vehicles.
Tomorrow, the show begins in Austin, and the Cybercab goes live at some capacity; we just don’t know exactly how quite yet.
News
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
SpaceX filed with the FCC for Starship Flight 14, its first true orbital launch attempt.
SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to fly Starlink terminals during Starship’s fourteenth flight test, and the filing lays out a genuine trip to orbit, something the program has never attempted.
Every Starship flight so far, including Flight 13’s successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24, has flown a suborbital arc that ends with the ship reentering the atmosphere within the same hour it launches. The FCC paperwork describes a mission profile built around an actual orbital insertion instead.
The payload is the other half of the story. Flight 13 carried 20 production Starlink V3 satellites, but because that mission never reached orbit, the satellites reentered along with the ship rather than joining the constellation, something Teslarati covered in detail after SpaceX released footage shot from one of those satellites as it drifted away from Starship in space. Flight 14 is designed to close that gap. If the orbital insertion holds, the roughly 20 V3 satellites onboard would separate into an operational orbit and could eventually go into service, each one rated for about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity by SpaceX’s own account.
SpaceX announces new Starbase for ‘thousands of Starship launches annually’
Elon Musk first flagged the orbital attempt during SpaceX’s August 4 earnings call, the company’s first as a public entity following its June IPO under the ticker SPCX. He also floated catching the ship with the Starbase tower on the same flight, an idea he walked back on August 20, saying the catch attempt would more likely come “in a few months,” as Teslarati reported at the time. Flight 14 will instead target a splashdown for the ship in the Indian Ocean, the same recovery method used since Flight 12.
Hardware has been catching up to the ambition. Booster 21 completed a full 33-engine static fire on August 28, and Ship 41 finished its own six-engine test the week before. An airspace briefing circulated to pilots on August 20 listed September 15 as the target date, later than the end of August window Musk mentioned on the earnings call, though SpaceX has not confirmed a launch date publicly and Starship schedules routinely slip while hardware and FAA paperwork line up.
The FCC filing itself does not guarantee a launch date. It covers communications authority, and not flight readiness, considering SpaceX still needs Ship 41 fully stacked and cleared by the FAA before Flight 14 can fly. But the filing is a real marker of intent and it puts a specific regulatory process behind what had so far only been Musk’s word on the earnings call.
Tesla Model Y L gets suspension complaints in over odd issue China
Tesla Cybercab event gains steam ahead of massive launch
