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SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft returns to Earth after second trip to orbit

Cargo Dragon C209 departs the ISS after completing its first delivery in July 2021. (NASA)

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A SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft has safely returned to Earth after a month in orbit, completing the company’s 24th successful cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS).

Launched on December 21st, 2021, the CRS-24 mission’s Dragon spacecraft docked with the ISS on December 22nd, delivering almost 3 tons (~6600 lb) of cargo to the station and raising the total amount of cargo delivered in 2021 to about 8.5 tons (18,500 lb) – about 40% of all cargo delivered in 2021. After 32 days at the station, Cargo Dragon C209 undocked from the ISS on January 23rd, 2022 and reentered Earth’s atmosphere about 30 hours later, ultimately splashing down off of Florida’s Gulf Coast with 2.2 tons (~4900 lb) of cargo aboard.

Incredibly, just shy of a decade after Cargo Dragon’s first Space Station cargo delivery, SpaceX’s Dragon remains the only spacecraft on Earth capable of returning a significant amount of cargo to Earth. Without it, Europe, Russia, the United States, and dozens of companies would have no way to reliably return large quantities of broken hardware, science experiments, samples, or any number of other cargo items to Earth.

That will only change once the Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) uncrewed Dream Chaser spaceplane finally begins launching under NASA’s second round of Commercial Resupply Services (CRS2) contracts. When SNC won its CRS2 contract in mid-2016, it had hoped to prepare Dream Chaser for its first demonstration launch sometime between October 2019 and April 2020. Five and a half years later, it looks increasingly likely that Dream Chaser won’t be ready for its first launch until 2023. Worse, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket SNC has tied Dream Chaser to continues to run into delay after delay. Dream Chaser’s first launch will be Vulcan’s second and, as of January 2022, it’s no longer clear if Vulcan will be ready to launch once – let alone twice – this year.

Dream Chaser is designed to deliver up to 5.5 tons of cargo to the ISS and return at least a few tons to almost any long runway on Earth. (SNC)

SpaceX says Cargo Dragon 2 is designed to deliver up to 6 tons to the ISS and return up to 3 tons to Earth. SNC says Dream Chaser will be able to deliver up to 5.5 tons and return an unspecified amount. More importantly, though, Dream Chaser will use a larger berthing port and have substantially more space and volume to store its cargo, likely making it far easier for SNC to actually take full advantage of its theoretical performance. Because of its limited volume, Dragon 2 has never launched with even 60% as much cargo as it’s theoretically capable of carrying. For NASA, the more a spacecraft’s performance can be exploited, the cheaper a given cargo delivery effectively becomes.

Due to SNC’s Dream Chaser delays, it’s likely that Dragon will remain the only spacecraft in the world capable of routinely returning a significant amount of cargo to Earth for at least another 9-18 months and 2-4 more cargo launches. Cargo Dragon 2’s next launch – CRS-25 – is scheduled no earlier than (NET) May 2022.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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USDOT Secretary visits Tesla Giga Texas, hints at national autonomous vehicle standards

The Transportation Secretary also toured the factory’s production lines and spoke with CEO Elon Musk.

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Credit: Elon Musk/X

United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Sean Duffy recently visited Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas complex, where he toured the factory’s production lines and spoke with CEO Elon Musk. In a video posted following his Giga Texas visit, Duffy noted that he believes there should be a national standard for autonomous vehicles in the United States.

Duffy’s Giga Texas Visit

As could be seen in videos of his Giga Texas visit, the Transportation Secretary seemed to appreciate the work Tesla has been doing to put the United States in the forefront of innovation. “Tesla is one of the many companies helping our country reach new heights. USDOT will be right there all the way to make sure Americans stay safe,” Duffy wrote in a post on X. 

He also praised Tesla for its autonomous vehicle program, highlighting that “We need American companies to keep innovating so we can outcompete the rest of the world.”

National Standard

While speaking with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the Transportation Secretary stated that other autonomous ride-hailing companies have been lobbying for a national standard for self-driving cars. Musk shared the sentiment, stating that “It’d be wonderful for the United States to have a national set of rules for autonomous driving as opposed to 50 independent sets of rules on a state-by-state rules basis.”

Duffy agreed with the CEO’s point, stating that, “You can’t have 50 different rules for 50 different states. You need one standard.” He also noted that the Transportation Department has asked autonomous vehicle companies to submit data. By doing so, the USDOT could develop a standard for the entire United States, allowing self-driving cars to operate in a manner that is natural and safe.

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Tesla posts Optimus’ most impressive video demonstration yet

The humanoid robot was able to complete all the tasks through a single neural network.

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Credit: Tesla Optimus/X

When Elon Musk spoke with CNBC’s David Faber in an interview at Giga Texas, he reiterated the idea that Optimus will be one of Tesla’s biggest products. Seemingly to highlight the CEO’s point, the official Tesla Optimus account on social media platform X shared what could very well be the most impressive demonstration of the humanoid robot’s capabilities to date.

Optimus’ Newest Demonstration

In its recent video demonstration, the Tesla Optimus team featured the humanoid robot performing a variety of tasks. These include household chores such as throwing the trash, using a broom and a vacuum cleaner, tearing a paper towel, stirring a pot of food, opening a cabinet, and closing a curtain, among others. The video also featured Optimus picking up a Model X fore link and placing it on a dolly.

What was most notable in the Tesla Optimus team’s demonstration was the fact that the humanoid robot was able to complete all the tasks through a single neural network. The robot’s actions were also learned directly from Optimus being fed data from first-person videos of humans performing similar tasks. This system should pave the way for Optimus to learn and refine new skills quickly and reliably.

Tesla VP for Optimus Shares Insight

In a follow-up post on X, Tesla Vice President of Optimus (Tesla Bot) Milan Kovac stated that one of the team’s goals is to have Optimus learn straight from internet videos of humans performing tasks, including footage captured in third person or by random cameras.

“We recently had a significant breakthrough along that journey, and can now transfer a big chunk of the learning directly from human videos to the bots (1st person views for now). This allows us to bootstrap new tasks much faster compared to teleoperated bot data alone (heavier operationally).

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“Many new skills are emerging through this process, are called for via natural language (voice/text), and are run by a single neural network on the bot (multi-tasking). Next: expand to 3rd person video transfer (aka random internet), and push reliability via self-play (RL) in the real-, and/or synthetic- (sim / world models) world,” Kovac wrote in his post on X.

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Starship Flight 9 nears as SpaceX’s Starbase becomes a Texan City

SpaceX’s launch site is officially incorporated as Starbase, TX. Starship Flight 9 could launch on May 27, 2025. 

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(Credit: Jenny Hautmann/Wikimedia Commons)

SpaceX’s Starbase is officially incorporated as a city in Texas, aligning with preparations for Starship Flight 9. The newly formed city in Cameron County serves as the heart of SpaceX’s Starship program.

Starbase City spans 1.5 square miles, encompassing SpaceX’s launch facility and company-owned land. A near-unanimous vote by residents, who were mostly SpaceX employees, led to its incorporation. SpaceX’s Vice President of Test and Launch, Bobby Peden, was elected mayor of Starbase. The new Texas city also has two SpaceX employees as commissioners. All Starbase officials will serve two-year terms unless extended to four by voters.

As the new city takes shape, SpaceX is preparing for the Starship Flight 9 launch, which is tentatively scheduled for May 27, 2025, at 6:30 PM CDT from Starbase, Texas.

SpaceX secured Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for up to 25 annual Starship and Super Heavy launches from the site. However, the FAA emphasized that “there are other licensing requirements still to be completed,” including policy, safety, and environmental reviews.

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On May 15, the FAA noted SpaceX updated its launch license for Flight 9, but added: “SpaceX may not launch until the FAA either closes the Starship Flight 8 mishap investigation or makes a return to flight determination. The FAA is reviewing the mishap report SpaceX submitted on May 14.”

Proposed Texas legislation could empower Starbase officials to close local highways and restrict Boca Chica Beach access during launches. Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino, Jr., opposes the Texas legislation, insisting beach access remain under county control. This tension highlights the balance between SpaceX’s ambitions and local interests.

Starbase’s incorporation strengthens SpaceX’s operational base as it gears up for Starship Flight 9, a critical step in its mission to revolutionize space travel. With growing infrastructure and regulatory hurdles in focus, Starbase is poised to become a cornerstone of SpaceX’s vision, blending community development with cutting-edge aerospace innovation.

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