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NASA says SLS Moon rocket is ‘go’ for launch debut
After rolling the vehicle to its Kenndy Space Center, Florida launch pad two days early for what is hoped to be the third and final time, NASA says that the first Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket is ready to take flight.
The Artemis I mission’s SLS reached Launch Complex 39B on August 17th after a 10-hour, 4-mile trip from KSC’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). NASA and its contractors spent the five subsequent days connecting the rocket to the pad and preparing both for flight – a process that will continue up until the moment the pad is cleared around a day or two prior to launch. On August 22nd, SLS and Orion program leaders completed a surprisingly clean Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for Artemis I, confirming that all related hardware, software, systems, and teams are (or will soon be) ready to launch.
Barring surprises, SLS remains on track to attempt its first launch and send an Orion spacecraft to the Moon no earlier than (NET) 8:33 am EDT (12:33 UTC) on Monday, August 29th.
Jim Free, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development division, reported that the SLS Artemis I FRR was completed with no exceptions, no additional actions required, and no dissenting opinions about the rocket’s readiness. Given just how rocky all aspects of SLS development have been, an almost perfectly clean review was not exactly expected, but it bodes well for a launch attempt during the first available window. Some work still needs to be completed, however, including at least one test that could not be completed during past test campaigns.
The rocket and pad’s behavior during two recent wet dress rehearsal (WDR) test campaigns in April and June also suggest that it could take NASA a few tries before SLS actually lifts off. There’s also a nonzero chance that minor to moderate problems could arise before liftoff, potentially requiring NASA to roll the rocket back to the VAB for a third time for repairs or longer-term troubleshooting. Thankfully, NASA officials were unusually candid in a post-FRR press conference and acknowledged many of those realities, noting that the first SLS launch could require multiple attempts.
Free even issued a statement on Twitter that almost directly acknowledged the possibility that Artemis I could end badly. While he avoided actually stating as much, the assistant administrator noted that “things may not go to plan” over the course of the mission. SLS will be the first rocket in history to attempt to send a payload to the Moon on its launch debut. Prior to attempting to enter orbit around the Moon and safely return to Earth, the Orion capsule will have only completed one suborbital test flight, and its propellant and propulsion section (service module) will have never flown.
With any luck, the rocket will make it through preflight operations without a major hitch and launch on the first try on August 29th. If not, NASA has backup opportunities on September 2nd and 5th. If all goes to plan, Artemis I will last approximately 42 days from liftoff to Orion capsule splashdown. The SLS rocket’s job will be complete around three hours after liftoff, leaving Orion to enter orbit around the Moon and eventually return to Earth.
Strangely, NASA is sending Orion to a lunar orbit different than the one the spacecraft will regularly visit with astronauts on operational missions, which are scheduled to begin with Artemis III as early as 2025. The Artemis I spacecraft also lacks a docking port and life support systems, and SLS will launch with an inert launch abort system (LAS), further weakening the test flight’s overall relevance for crewed missions.
No matter the outcome, NASA is poised to gather a massive amount of data about the performance of SLS and Orion over the course of Artemis I. In a best-case scenario, only minor tweaks will be required and Artemis II – a less complex crewed test flight including a free-return trip around the Moon – will remain on track to launch sometime in 2024.
Elon Musk
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Elon Musk told investors Semi self-driving should start working by early 2027, per today’s earnings.
During Wednesday’s’ Tesla Q2 earnings call, an analyst asked Elon Musk when Tesla would look at autonomy for the Semi. His answer set a real timeline for the first time, noting that self-driving on the Tesla Semi is expected to start working “around the end of this year or early next year”.
Musk framed the delay as a matter of priority, not capability. Tesla’s self-driving team is currently focused on Model 3, Model Y, and Cybercab, the vehicles that make up the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s fleet. Since Semi trucks on the road remain a small fraction of that total even after the recent Nevada factory ramp, Musk said it made more sense to keep the software team’s attention on what he called “the march of nines of safety” for the higher volume vehicles first. Autonomous Semi development is “taking a bit of a backseat for the next six months or so,” he said, before adding that it “will definitely be working next year and in time for the scale-up to high production of the Tesla Semi.”
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
The timeline lines up with what’s already been showing up on public roads. In June, a Tesla Semi was spotted in Sunnyvale wearing a full validation rig, the same rooftop sensor array Tesla mounts on vehicles ahead of an FSD milestone.
A second unit was seen near Fremont days later with a matching camera suite and lens washers. Separately, Tesla analyst Nic Cruz Patane posted video this month of the production Semi’s exterior camera array, ten AI4 based units built directly into the truck rather than added later.
Tesla Semi AI4 cameras. The production version has 10 cameras on its exterior.
These trucks are designed to be autonomous. pic.twitter.com/GH3BamxIBQ
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) April 14, 2026
Musk also gave the reason autonomy on the Semi matters in the first place, a persistent shortage of qualified truck drivers. “There is a really serious shortage of truckers,” he said on the call, framing a self-driving Semi as important both for addressing that shortage and for improving safety and comfort for the drivers running the truck today.
The timing also tracks with the Semi’s production reality. Tesla’s Q2 shareholder letter, dropped language promising the Semi would reach volume production this year. Musk pointed to 4680 battery cell output as the near-term constraint on Semi and Cybercab production. A software timeline landing in early 2027 gives Tesla’s autonomy team room to work while the hardware ramp catches up behind it.
It’s worth nothing that this isn’t necessarily a promise the Semi ships driverless next year. Musk’s own language, self-driving “working” by early 2027, describes internal validation catching up to hardware already riding on every production truck, not a public unsupervised rollout.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
