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SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft nears space station with 2.5 tons of cargo
Following a successful May 4th launch atop Falcon 9, SpaceX’s latest Cargo Dragon spacecraft is just a few hours away from starting its International Space Station (ISS) berthing sequence.
Scheduled to begin around 5:30 am EDT (09:30 UTC), SpaceX operations staff will command Dragon to continue a cautious ISS approach. Several hours later, the spacecraft will be quite literally grabbed by station astronauts and gently berthed with one of the space station’s several Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) ports. Once Cargo Dragon has been safely joined with the ISS, the station’s crew of astronauts can begin the intensive process of unpacking more than 1500 kg (3300 lb) of pressurized cargo, including dozens of time-sensitive and complex science experiments.
Aside from the 1.5 tons of cargo contained inside Dragon’s climate-controlled cabin, ISS astronauts and ground-based NASA controllers will again use the space station’s robotic Canadarm2 manipulator to extract two large unpressurized payloads from Dragon’s trunk. The ‘flagship’ instrument of CRS-17 is NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3), an upgraded follow-on to OCO-2 that should dramatically improve the quantity and quality of data available on the distribution of carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere. The second trunk-stashed payload is known as STP-H6 and is carrying around half a dozen distinct experiments.
Both STP-H6 and OCO-3 will be installed on the outside of the space station with the help of Canadarm2, an extremely useful capability that limits the need for astronauts to suit up and perform risky and time-consuming EVAs (extra-vehicular activities) outside the ISS. With its trunk emptied, Cargo Dragon will eventually discard the section to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere just before the reusable capsule begins its own reentry.
Unlike several other spacecraft with service sections, both proposed, flying, or retired, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft strive to minimize the complexity and cost of their expendable service sections. For both Cargo and Crew Dragon, the trunk serves as a structural adapter for unpressurized payloads and the Falcon-Dragon interface, hosts solar arrays and radiators, and doesn’t do much else. All propulsion, plumbing, and major avionics are kept within the capsule to maximize reusability.
Defining “slow and steady”
The process of berthing or docking with the ISS is a fundamentally cautious thing, developed by NASA, Roscosmos, and other international partners through forced and painful trial and error. In short, the road to today’s cautious procedures has been paved with countless failures and close calls over decades of space activity. For Cargo Dragon, the process involves berthing, more passive and less complex than docking. Outside of a dozen or so meters, the processes begin quite similarly. Cargo Dragon (Dragon 1) will very slowly approach the station’s several-hundred-meter keep out zone, typically no faster than a few m/s (mph).
Then follows a back-and-forth process of stop and go, in which SpaceX commands Dragon forward, halts at set locations, verifies performance and station readiness with NASA, and repeat. Once within 10 or so meters of the ISS, Dragon will begin carefully stationkeeping, essentially a version of formation flying without a hint of aerodynamic forces. ISS astronauts will then command the Canadarm2 robotic arm toward a sort of target/handle combo located on the spacecraft. The arm follows similar stop-start procedures before finally grappling Dragon, at which point the astronauts in command are legally required (/s) to quip something along the lines of “We’ve caught ourselves a Dragon!”
From start to finish, the process takes about 1.5 hours under optimal conditions. Around 2.5 hours after that, Canadarm2 will physically berth Dragon with one of several ISS berthing ports. Soon after, station astronauts can open Dragon’s hatch, snag some fresh goodies, and begin the unpacking process. CRS-17’s ISS arrival operations will be covered live on NASA TV.
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Tesla Giga Berlin dispute against IG Metall union leads to investigation
As per a report from rbb24, police seized a laptop belonging to an IG Metall member at Tesla Giga Berlin on Tuesday afternoon.
German authorities have opened an investigation into an IG Metall union representative following allegations that a confidential works council meeting at Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin was secretly recorded. The probe follows a criminal complaint filed by Tesla management last week.
As per a report from rbb24, police seized a laptop belonging to an IG Metall member at Tesla Giga Berlin on Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors in Frankfurt (Oder) confirmed that an investigation is underway into a possible unauthorized audio recording of an internal works council meeting.
Under German law, recording a non-public meeting without consent may constitute a criminal offense.
Tesla stated that Gigafactory Berlin employees alerted management after allegedly discovering that an external union representative, who was attending the event as a guest, had recorded the session. Plant manager André Thierig stated in a post on X that the representative was “caught in action,” prompting the company to contact police and file a criminal complaint.
The seized device is now part of the investigation, and authorities will determine whether any unlawful recording had indeed occurred.
IG Metall has denied the accusation. In comments to German media, representatives rejected Tesla’s claim and described the electric vehicle maker’s allegation as an election campaign tactic ahead of upcoming works council elections.
The election at Tesla’s Grünheide plant is scheduled for March 2–4, 2026, with about 11,000 employees being eligible to vote. Regular works council elections in Germany are held every four years between March and May.
The incident comes amid tensions between Tesla and organized labor in Germany. While works councils operate independently from unions, IG Metall has been active at the plant and has previously criticized Tesla’s labor practices. Authorities, for their part, have not yet announced whether charges will be filed, though the investigation remains ongoing.
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Tesla rolls out xAI’s Grok to vehicles across Europe
The initial rollout includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain.
Tesla is rolling out Grok to vehicles in Europe. The feature will initially launch in nine European territories.
In a post on X, the official Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa account confirmed that Grok is coming to Teslas in Europe. The initial rollout includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain, and additional markets are expected to be added later.
Grok allows drivers to ask questions using real-time information and interact hands-free while driving. According to Tesla’s support documentation, Grok can also initiate navigation commands, enabling users to search for destinations, discover points of interest, and adjust routes without touching the touchscreen, as per the feature’s official webpage.
The system offers selectable personalities, ranging from “Storyteller” to “Unhinged,” and is activated either through the App Launcher or by pressing and holding the steering wheel’s microphone button.
Grok is currently available only on Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck vehicles equipped with an AMD infotainment processor. Vehicles must be running software version 2025.26 or later, with navigation command support requiring version 2025.44.25 or newer.
Drivers must also have Premium Connectivity or a stable Wi-Fi connection to use the feature. Tesla notes that Grok does not currently replace standard voice commands for vehicle controls such as climate or media adjustments.
The company has stated that Grok interactions are processed securely by xAI and are not linked to individual drivers or vehicles. Users do not need a Grok account or subscription to enable the feature at this time as well.
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Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Tesla has officially ended the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that was announced for the United States market in January by CEO Elon Musk.
The driver assistance suite is now exclusively available in the U.S. as a subscription, which is currently priced at $99 per month.
Tesla moved away from the outright purchase option in an effort to move more people to the subscription program, but there are concerns over its current price and the potential for it to rise.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Although Tesla moved back the deadline in other countries, it has now taken effect in the U.S. on Sunday morning. Tesla updated its website to reflect this:
🚨 Tesla has officially moved the outright purchase option for FSD on its website pic.twitter.com/RZt1oIevB3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 15, 2026
There are still some concerns regarding its price, as $99 per month is not where many consumers are hoping to see the subscription price stay.
Musk has said that as capabilities improve, the price will go up, but it seems unlikely that 10 million drivers will want to pay an extra $100 every month for the capability, even if it is extremely useful.
Instead, many owners and fans of the company are calling for Tesla to offer a different type of pricing platform. This includes a tiered-system that would let owners pick and choose the features they would want for varying prices, or even a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual pricing option, which would incentivize longer-term purchasing.
Although Musk and other Tesla are aware of FSD’s capabilities and state is is worth much more than its current price, there could be some merit in the idea of offering a price for Supervised FSD and another price for Unsupervised FSD when it becomes available.
Tesla Giga Berlin dispute against IG Metall union leads to investigation
Tesla rolls out xAI’s Grok to vehicles across Europe
