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Antares rocket launches Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station
Northrup Grumman has launched a fresh batch of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station with its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.
On Saturday, February 19th, an uncrewed Northrup Grumman Cygnus spacecraft lifted off on an Antares rocket from Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in northeast Virginia. As part of Northrup Grumman’s 17th Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station since 2013, the rocket successfully carried the Cygnus spacecraft and more than 3.7 tons (~8300 lb) of cargo into orbit.
At 4:44 AM EST Monday, February 21st, Cygnus finished its autonomous rendezvous with the ISS and the station’s robotic Canadarm2 arm – operated by NASA astronaut Raja Chari – grabbed the hovering spacecraft and ultimately installed it on a berthing port later that morning. Prior to its arrival, NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Kayla Barron trained on the US Destiny laboratory module’s robotics workstation to prepare for the capture operation.
The update that's rolling out to the fleet makes full use of the front and rear steering travel to minimize turning circle. In this case a reduction of 1.6 feet just over the air— Wes (@wmorrill3) April 16, 2024
On February 22nd, ISS astronauts began the process of unpacking Cygnus, which brought with it an array of supplies, snacks, scientific investigations, and critical materials needed to support over 250 experiments aboard the ISS. That list of experiments includes medical research, technology development, space safety work, and plant life investigations. In one investigation, cancer cells from breast and prostate cancer will be treated with MicroQuin, a novel cancer treatment drug. This investigation will allow tumors to be treated in a microgravity environment, allowing researchers an opportunity to better understand and characterize their structure, gene expression, cell signaling, and response to the treatment.
The NG-17 mission also carried a modification kit that will pave the way for the installation of the new set of upgraded solar arrays. The second batch will be launched no earlier than (NET) May 2022 on SpaceX’s CRS-25 Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft. Additionally, NASA says that Cygnus NG-17 “[included] other components [needed] for the successful functioning of astronaut life on the space station, such as a trash deployer and acoustic covers for the waste management system.” (NASA)
In general, NG-17 was loaded with:
• 2,980 pounds (1,352 kilograms) of crew supplies
• 2,883 pounds (1,308 kilograms) of [station] hardware
• 1,975 pounds (896 kilograms) of science investigations
• 200 pounds (100 kilograms) of unpressurized cargo
• 132 pounds (60 kilograms) of spacewalk equipment
• 77 pounds (35 kilograms) of computer resources
While attached to the ISS, Cygnus will also be responsible for raising the altitude of the space station for the first time in its history. This will be the first time since the Space Shuttle’s retirement in 2011 that an American spacecraft helps maintain the space station’s orbit – a task Russia has exclusively handled for more than a decade. “This Cygnus vehicle has been modified to [use some of its own propellant] to reboot ISS. We’ve done a test prior to this with Cygnus, but this will be our first real use of this capability to actually re-boost the station. And it gives us another way to do so, in addition to the Russian Zvezda thrusters or the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft capabilities,” stated Dina Contella, NASA’s ISS operations integration manager.
Cygnus will remain attached to the International Space Station for the next three months and is set to depart in May. Once detached from the ISS, the spacecraft – operating a bit like a space tug or orbital transfer vehicle – will deploy a number of cubesats. Finally, the fully expendable spacecraft will dispose several thousand pounds of trash when it reenters and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere later this year.
Elon Musk
Why automakers keep turning down Elon Musk’s Tesla Full Self-Driving offer
Elon Musk confirms no automaker has ever accepted Tesla’s offer to license Full Self-Driving software.
Elon Musk gave a brief answer on X Monday that confirmed that Tesla’s standing offer to license Full Self-Driving to other automakers still has zero takers. Sawyer Merritt wrote that “Tesla has for years openly invited other automakers to license FSD. None of them have accepted,” responding to a prediction from Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl that Tesla would eventually open FSD the way it opened its Supercharger network to rival brands. Musk’s reply to Merritt was one word: “Exactly.”
It is not the first time Musk has made this point. He said something similar in November, when he called legacy automakers reluctance to adopt FSD “crazy,” and Tesla has floated the offer publicly since at least 2021. Scholl’s prediction touches on something real. Once NACS became the de facto charging standard, adoption from Ford, GM, Rivian and others followed within about a year. FSD licensing was supposed to work the same way once Tesla built enough of a lead that switching made sense for everyone.
Tesla has for years openly invited other automakers to license FSD. None of them have accepted. https://t.co/kgz4idpoUM
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 22, 2026
The case for licensing now is stronger than it was two years ago. Waymo and Zoox are logging hundreds of thousands of unsupervised autonomous miles, along with Tesla’s own Robotaxi fleet. Every automaker still selling driver assist systems that lag FSD has given the robotaxi conversation to Tesla, Waymo and Zoox by default. Licensing FSD would let a GM or a Ford compete on the same field without spending a decade and billions of dollars building a stack from scratch, the same argument Tesla made when it opened the Supercharger network to bring more EVs onto its chargers.
But FSD is not a connector standard. As one reply to Musk’s post pointed out, licensing FSD is not a software license the way NACS was a plug spec. It requires adopting Tesla’s eight camera layout and its onboard compute architecture, meaning a licensee’s cars would effectively become Tesla hardware wearing someone else’s badge. That is the visible obstacle. The less visible one is data. A licensed FSD stack would report back the same telemetry Tesla collects from its own fleet, giving Tesla a continuous read on how a competitor’s cars are actually driven, where they struggle, and how often drivers intervene. For an automaker trying to build its own autonomy program, or simply trying to keep its build quality and safety record private, handing Tesla that visibility could be a bigger cost than the hardware bill. It is the reason the Supercharger comparison only goes so far. Opening a charging plug cost Tesla very little. Opening FSD would cost a rival something it cannot get back.
Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit just days before an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas. The move revives a reservation process first launched in 2017 and later paused when Tesla pulled pricing from its website in 2021.
The reservation page requires an immediate $5,000 credit-card payment, described as fully refundable, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, which is identical to what was expected previously. Reservations are not considered final until the wire clears.
The structure matches the 2017 terms Tesla used when it first collected deposits after unveiling a prototype. Tesla has not published a confirmed retail price or production start date on the order page.
Go buy a Roadster pic.twitter.com/n7rhouAmIS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
The October 1 event is scheduled in Waco, about 90 minutes north of Tesla’s Austin headquarters and near SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site. Tesla sent invitations to existing reservation holders and posted a “Go for launch” teaser on September 12.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor area from September 18 through October 2, consistent with plans for a demonstration involving SpaceX-designed cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk has previously described the optional package as enabling extreme acceleration or brief hovering. Tesla has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.
The second-generation Roadster was first shown in November 2017 during Tesla’s Semi launch. Musk promised production in 2020, with claimed performance of 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, more than 250 mph top speed, and roughly 620 miles of range.
Those targets have slipped repeatedly.
Tesla later pointed to 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025-2026 before indicating production would not begin until 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas. Design work has continued, with reports of a sharper, Cybertruck-influenced look replacing the original curvy prototype.
Original reservation holders who paid $50,000 in 2017, or $250,000 for the Founders Series, have waited nearly nine years without a production car. Some high-profile customers canceled. Tesla’s decision to reopen orders now, after previously shutting them down, tests whether new buyers will commit substantial funds before seeing a finalized production vehicle. The October 1 event is intended to answer remaining questions about what those buyers will actually receive and when.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is heading to Czechia after the Czech Ministry of Transport recognised the Dutch RDW’s provisional type approval, making the country the seventh EU member state to clear the system for public roads. Tesla Europe announced on 21 September 2026 that “FSD Supervised is now approved in Czechia” and that rollout “will begin soon.”
The decision marks a notable reversal. Earlier in 2026, Prague had declined to automatically recognise the Netherlands’ April approval, citing concerns over speed-limit compliance, traffic-sign recognition and driver-attention monitoring, and arguing that a coordinated EU approach was preferable. Officials said months of expert review, talks with Tesla and other member states, and real-world data from countries already using the system resolved those issues.
🚨 Tesla FSD heading to Czechia 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/mkzlM9QjrB
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
“Safety remains the top priority,” the ministry stated.
FSD Supervised remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system: the driver must stay engaged and is legally responsible. Eligible vehicles need AI4, the company’s most up-to-date hardware version. Tesla is expected to push the feature over the air in the coming days, following the pattern seen after earlier national approvals.
Europe’s rollout began when Dutch regulator RDW issued a provisional EU type approval on 10 April 2026 after extensive testing. Mutual recognition then produced a rapid cascade: Lithuania (20 May), Estonia (29 May), Denmark (9 June), Belgium (10 June) and Slovenia (7 September). Czechia now completes that list of seven.
The approvals cover only a modest share of the EU population, but they add political weight ahead of a 6 October vote by the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles. A qualified majority, at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population, could open the remaining markets, including large ones such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have so far preferred to wait for a bloc-wide decision.
For Czech Tesla owners, the immediate prize is access to the same supervised highway and city driving already available in the other six countries. For Tesla, each new market generates additional European driving data and strengthens the case that FSD Supervised can operate safely under the continent’s varied road rules. The Czech approval is therefore both a local milestone and another incremental step toward a wider European launch.
Why automakers keep turning down Elon Musk’s Tesla Full Self-Driving offer
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
