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SpaceX bookends Starship launch with two Starlink missions

Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites from Florida (Credit SpaceX)

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While Starship garnered all the attention this weekend on its 2nd integrated flight test, SpaceX also launched 2 Starlink missions from Florida and California.

Florida was up first. Just hours before the Starship launch, SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base at 12:05 AM ET (05:05 UTC) on November 18th.

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The 23 Starlink satellites were inserted into a 43-degree orbital inclination as part of Group 6-28. The satellites were deployed just over an hour after liftoff.

The Falcon 9 assigned to launch Group 6-28 was Booster 1069. B1069 completed its 11th flight since debuting on the CRS-24 mission in December of 2021, when it suffered a run-in with bad weather, and the engines crunched down onto the octagrabber. The booster was eventually refurbished and is now a veteran of the SpaceX fleet.

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This mission utilized the droneship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ for the booster landing. SpaceX also recovered both fairing halves to be reused on a future mission.

Jumping over to the West Coast, SpaceX launched 22 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base this morning at 2:30 AM PT (10:30 UTC).

The 22 satellites were inserted into a 53-degree orbital inclination as part of Group 7-7. Satellite deployment came just over an hour after launching.

As for the booster for this mission, Booster 1063 completed its 15th flight, making it five boosters with at least 15 flights. After separating from the 2nd stage, B1063 made a successful landing on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ off the coast of the Baja Peninsula.

With these two launches, SpaceX has now launched over 5,445 Starlink satellites to orbit, with 4,500 now being in their operational orbits according to Jonathan McDowell’s Starlink tracker. These 45 new Starlinks will begin their checkouts and orbit raising over the next couple of months as the constellation keeps growing.

While it took 2 Falcon 9 launches to launch 45, once Starship comes online, it could launch double that in one mission depending on which variant of Starlink satellite is used.

Next up for SpaceX, another Starlink mission from SLC 40 in Florida, currently scheduled for no earlier than Tuesday, November 21st at 11 PM ET (04:00 UTC on the 22nd).

Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.

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Launch journalist, specializing in launch photography. Based on the Space Coast, a short drive from Cape Canaveral and the SpaceX launch pads.

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SpaceX adjusts Starship Flight 13 test launch target date once again

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has updated its target for the thirteenth integrated flight test of Starship, aiming for as early as Thursday, July 23. The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas.

The target flight was initially rescheduled for today, but SpaceX pushed it back again.

This latest adjustment follows an aborted attempt earlier in the week and reflects the iterative, rapid-development approach that has defined the Starship program. With the vehicle already stacked and ground teams making final preparations, the mission represents another step toward proving the full reusability of the world’s most powerful rocket system.

The original launch attempt on July 16 was scrubbed at T-0 when several Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite properly. The automatic abort system triggered just as the engines began their startup sequence, preventing liftoff.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that some engines did not start as expected, prompting the decision to replace two Raptors on Booster 20 to ensure reliability. The issue occurred despite a successful full-duration static fire earlier, highlighting the complexities of coordinating 33 engines under flight conditions.

This cautious approach underscores SpaceX’s commitment to safety amid an aggressive test cadence.

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SpaceX comes with a slew of changes for Starship Flight 13

Flight 13 builds directly on the lessons from Flight 12 in May 2026. The Super Heavy booster’s primary goals include a successful liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and controlled splashdown in the Gulf of America.

Hardware and software modifications address the off-nominal flip and boostback burn problems from the prior flight, where propellant slosh and engine relight issues led to an uncontrolled impact.

For the Starship upper stage, objectives include deploying 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites, the first real payload of this type, performing a single Raptor engine relight in space, and executing a controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Propulsion upgrades aim to improve engine-out capability after one vacuum Raptor was lost on Flight 12.

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Additional test elements focus on heat shield performance. Six satellites carry cameras to image the tiles during flight, while white-painted tiles and upgraded attachments on flaps and the aft skirt will gather data for future reusability.

The FAA completed its mishap investigation into Flight 12 earlier this month, clearing the regulatory path.

This suborbital mission, the second with V3 vehicles, advances Starship toward operational missions, including potential crewed flights and support for NASA’s Artemis program. Success would mark significant progress in rapid reusability and satellite deployment from the massive system.

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Elon Musk debunks $52 billion SpaceX-NVIDIA GPU deal

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Credit: SpaceX

Elon Musk dismissed reports claiming SpaceX had placed a massive order for NVIDIA GPUs worth $52 billion. The denial came hours after Taiwanese media, citing unnamed industry sources, reported that SpaceX planned to acquire approximately 13,000 AI server racks, equating to roughly 1 million GB300 GPUs, from Foxconn.

Each rack was estimated at around $4 million, with deliveries potentially starting in late 2025.

The story suggested this would mark SpaceX’s first major foray into Foxconn-manufactured NVIDIA hardware, breaking from suppliers like Supermicro and Dell. Musk responded bluntly on X:

Despite the denial, the rumored scale aligns with SpaceX’s explosive growth in AI infrastructure. NVIDIA’s GB300 (successor to the GB200 NVL) racks deliver unprecedented performance for large-scale training and inference. A $52 billion commitment would dwarf most corporate AI budgets and provide the compute muscle needed for frontier models.

SpaceX already operates gigawatt-scale terrestrial clusters like Colossus in Memphis, Tennessee, and has monetized them aggressively through leasing deals.

SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete

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Major customers include Anthropic (paying ~$1.25 billion monthly for 220,000+ GPUs), Google (~$920 million monthly for 110,000 GPUs), and Reflection AI. These arrangements are projected to generate tens of billions in annual revenue, far outpacing traditional SpaceX businesses.

Such an investment would fuel internal AI efforts, particularly Grok models under the integrated SpaceXAI division, while supporting ambitious orbital data center plans. SpaceX envisions launching thousands of AI-optimized satellites powered by solar energy and cooled in space, bypassing terrestrial power and land constraints.

This “Starmind” constellation could position the company as a leader in space-based computing.

SpaceX as an Emerging AI Powerhouse

Once primarily known for reusable rockets and Starlink satellite internet, SpaceX has transformed into a multifaceted AI player.

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The 2026 acquisition of xAI integrated Grok development directly into the company. Starlink’s low-latency global network complements massive compute clusters, enabling efficient data flow for training and serving AI models.

Musk has long argued that AI scaling demands solutions beyond Earth, citing things like real estate and electricity limits on the ground.

While the Foxconn deal may not be in the cards, SpaceX’s trajectory is continuing on the path of blending aerospace engineering with hyperscale AI to dominate both launches and intelligence infrastructure.

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Elon Musk sheds details on Tesla FSD’s upcoming improvements

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Credit: Tesla

Elon Musk shed more details on the upcoming improvements to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite, specifically one that the CEO mentioned last week, which should help owners see fewer interventions.

Last week, Musk hinted that one major improvement that Tesla planned to roll out to Full Self-Driving users was the car’s ability “to remember your specific interventions and match each person’s individual preferences.”

Elon Musk says your Tesla will start to learn your individual preferences

This small bit of detail was linked to a post from Tesla community member Whole Mars, who said that FSD’s tendency to exit the carpool lane, a feature that owners can turn on but at times the car will disregard.

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It sounds like, based on Musk’s two responses since that original post, it is safe to say the things FSD will start to remember are wide-ranging. However, it seems the biggest differences will be noticed with parking performance, which Musk continues to mention.

Highway Lane Preferences

The initial post Musk mentioned, with these new remembered preferences soon to arrive for Tesla owners everywhere, was the Carpool/Express Lane.

Tesla has a setting in the FSD menu that lets drivers enable HOV Lane travel. However, the car won’t always stay in that suggested or preferred lane.

Some owners have also complained of left lane camping, an illegal maneuver in at least some states. Cruising in the passing lane has resulted in tickets for some, as it is illegal in over 30 states in the U.S.

Tesla did not confirm if these preferences would also be included in new FSD behaviors, but it would certainly help move the company toward fewer interventions.

Parking Preferences

This seems to be the real focus of the entire operation, as Musk stated several weeks ago that parking was overwhelmingly the most frequent reason for interventions.

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The major issue with parking is not necessarily the parking “performance,” as FSD is generally good at parking. It definitely has its issues; we’ve recorded plenty of them, including this one as recent as last week:

However, the changes coming are more about preferences, meaning where you park and how your car enters the spot, either pulling in or backing in. Owners have also reported that pulling into the correct driveway is a relatively rare thing for FSD, something else that needs to be confronted.

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Musk basically confirmed that all of these things would be part of Tesla’s plan to address driver preferences with FSD:

It’s obvious there is something big coming with FSD, and the company’s focus seems to be eliminating any intervention that would be related to preferences. This is probably the biggest bottleneck between Tesla and being fully autonomous. Critical interventions do occur, but they are much less frequent.

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The only time a driver should be taking over is because of a critical intervention; this seems to be the goal of Tesla right now.

This all seems to be a priority as Tesla continues to move closer to the prospect of unsupervised driving.

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