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NASA SLS rocket launches Orion spacecraft to the Moon
After years, months, days, hours, and minutes of waiting, NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has successfully lifted off from Kennedy Space Center and sent an Orion spacecraft on its way to the Moon.
Originally projected to launch by late 2016, SLS lifted off for the first time at 1:48 am EST (06:48 UTC) on November 16th, 2022. Once known as Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), NASA’s SLS debut was renamed “Artemis I” when the Trump administration created the Artemis Program in 2017. By most measures a semi-modernized Apollo Program without a geopolitical race against the Soviet Union, the Artemis Program survived the election of a new president in 2020, and the SLS rocket’s debut has officially become the program’s first major mission to get off the ground.
That SLS rocket has had a very long journey to its first successful launch. Supplied by United Launch Alliance (ULA), the rocket’s small Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) – the stage responsible for orbital burns – was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in November 2017. Boeing shipped the first Core Stage – SLS’ central liquid rocket booster – to Mississippi for proof testing in January 2020, and CS-1 completed that testing in March 2021 and was delivered to Florida by April 2021.
After almost 12 months of painstaking assembly, the first fully-assembled SLS rocket rolled out to Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B (Pad 39B) and attempted its first on-pad wet dress rehearsal (WDR) test. Seven months, three partially-completed WDRs, and two aborted launch attempts later, everything finally came together on November 16th, 2022.
By all appearances, the first SLS launch went perfectly. Shortly before liftoff, SLS ignited four former Space Shuttle Main Engines, making sure they were performing as expected. Seconds later, the launch computer fully committed and ignited both of SLS’ Shuttle-derived solid rocket boosters (SRBs) – motors than cannot be shut down after they’re lit. Much like the Shuttle did, SLS leapt off the pad after SRB ignition.
Combined, NASA says its RS-25 liquid engines and SRBs produced up to 4000 tons (8.8M lbf/39,200 kN) of thrust at liftoff, making SLS the second most powerful rocket to ever leave the launch pad. Only the Soviet Union’s N1 rocket, which produced up to 4500 tons (9.9M lbf/44,100 kN) of thrust at liftoff, was more powerful. But unlike N1, which failed four times over four launch attempts, the first SLS rocket reached orbit as planned, making it the most powerful rocket ever successfully launched.
About two minutes after liftoff, both SRBs successfully separated from the Core Stage. Eight and a half minutes after liftoff, the Core Stage shut down its four RS-25 engines and deployed the ICPS and Orion spacecraft just below the height of a stable orbit. 51 minutes after liftoff, ICPS ignited its lone RL-10 engine for 22 seconds to insert itself and Orion into a stable Earth orbit. Finally, about an hour and forty minutes after liftoff, ICPS ignited for a lengthy 18-minute trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn, sending Orion on a trajectory that will intercept the Moon on November 21st.
If all goes according to plan, Orion will then use its own European Service Module (ESM) to correct its trajectory and enter a Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon on November 25th, where it will remain tens of thousands of kilometers above the lunar surface. Orion will then leave lunar orbit as early as December 1st and reenter Earth’s atmosphere on December 11th before the capsule finally splashes down in the ocean.
Assuming Artemis I goes perfectly, Artemis II – SLS and Orion’s first launch with astronauts aboard – is scheduled no earlier than (NET) 2024. Artemis III, which will team up with a modified version of SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle to attempt to land astronauts on the Moon for the first time since 1972, is expected to follow NET 2025. However, a reliable source with a prophetic track record estimates that Starship and SLS might not be ready to launch Artemis III until 2028.
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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
