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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 Cybercab is using a unique strategy for picking up the correct rider, which is a crucial part of ride-hailing to ensure people end up in the right place and are charged the correct price.
Cybercab will utilize an RGB strip in its front light bar that will illuminate in a variety of different colors to mark itself.
This identifying mark will also appear in the Robotaxi app, giving riders in the same location a notable distinction in an effort to avoid any confusion regarding who should get in each vehicle.
🚨 Tesla is using different light bar colors to help riders understand which vehicle is theirs
Pretty cool strategy pic.twitter.com/eGMpEMeRpc
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 27, 2026
Other ride-hailing services use similar strategies: Lyft and Uber rides are recognizable through driver identity, vehicle type and color, as well as license plate. Waymo will display the rider’s initials on top of the vehicle, letting them know that the specific vehicle for them has arrived.
Tesla’s strategy is unique and interesting, but there are some flaws. Cybercab’s main purpose is aimed toward being an autonomous ride for all, including those who have disabilities like being blind or even color blind.
Tesla will likely have something in the pipeline for those who cannot see colors or have limited vision. There will definitely be multiple ways to identify which vehicle is the one that “you” specifically ordered.
Cybercab is set to start giving public rides next Thursday, September 3, in Austin, as it announced a dedicated event last week and invited many members of the Tesla community.
Additionally, members of the public will be invited as well. Tesla has been offering employee rides in Cybercab for nearly two months.
Tesla has said goodbye to one customization option for its vehicles: the wrap service it launched several years ago.
After launching an in-house wrap service in August 2020 for the first time in China. In the U.S., it launched in October 2023. Tesla continued to expand the program and adjust it with better pricing and fewer options for the Cybertruck.
By December 2023, it was giving owners of the Model 3, Model Y, and the Cybertruck the opportunity to give their vehicle a fresh look with a vinyl wrap.
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$19.99 USDTesla revamps in-house vinyl wrap service with better pricing
It was only available in five locations: Costa Mesa, Oceanside, Santa Clara, West Covina, all in California, and Seattle, Washington.
However, Tesla made some big adjustments to its shop, and the wrap service is officially gone:
Tesla has made a LOT of changes to its online shop recently — price increases, price cuts, new options, and several products being removed entirely.
Some of the biggest increases are wheel covers. 👀
📈 PRICE INCREASES
• 2017-2023 | Model 3 Aero Wheel Cover — Style: Refresh…— Phoenix Self-Driving 🐦🔥 (@PhoenixFSD) August 25, 2026
Wraps are very popular across the Tesla lineup, especially since the company offers relatively few colors. Many choose to wrap their Teslas with interesting colors, patterns, or even finishes, turning their cars from glossy to satin or matte.
However, Tesla’s wrap service was so limited geographically that it never really had a chance to get off the ground or compete with local shops. Every area in the United States is now overflowing with detailing shops, mobile detailers, and other automotive specialists, many of whom perform wrap services.
Tesla’s service was confined to the Pacific time zone and only spanned across two states. It was never going to be something Tesla was a major competitor in, nor was it going to disrupt the wrapping industry. Now that the program has ended, it seems pretty ideal to believe it was always going to be a short-term thing.
Along with the wrap service, Tesla removed several other products, but nothing too crazy. The Model 3 Door Pocket and Cupholder Liners, the Model S 19″ Magnetite Wheel and Winter Tire Package, Model X/Y Ski/Snowboard Carrier for Hitch Rack, Tesla’s Electric Summer Party Tee, and the Electric Summer Tee were the other items the company totally eliminated from its online shop.
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Tesla Robotaxi fleet gets a brain upgrade ahead of Cybercab launch event
Tesla’s Robotaxi service now runs longer hours nationwide as its unsupervised fleet quietly grows larger.
Tesla’s Robotaxi service just got easier to catch, with the company’s official Robotaxi account noting that rides are now available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, across its operating footprint. The account also said its unsupervised fleet is “a lot bigger” than before, though without specifics. The bigger change is what Tesla says upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution and routing is what’s actually cutting wait times, not a new Full Self-Driving version.
While Tesla did not name the team behind the upgrade, the language points to its AI and fleet software group rather than the driving stack itself. Vehicle distribution and routing in Robotaxi has functioned mostly as a dispatch problem with the software deciding which idle car goes to which rider, and how far it has to travel to get there. “Upgraded intelligence” suggests a smarter version of that dispatch logic, likely using demand forecasting to position idle cars near where riders are about to request them rather than reacting once a request comes in. Tesla’s AI division has built similar prediction systems for other parts of the business, including the neural networks that power FSD itself, so applying that same approach to fleet logistics would be a natural extension rather than a new discipline for the team.
Robotaxi now runs 6am to 10pm, 7 days/week
Unsupervised fleet is a lot bigger
Also, upgraded intelligence in vehicle distribution & routing means you wait less pic.twitter.com/UFZ4bqg2dZ
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) August 26, 2026
Tesla is also about a week away from a separate robotaxi milestone. The company plans to launch Cybercab, its purpose built two seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals, in Austin on September 3. Cybercab has been giving employees rides on public and private roads for weeks, and the September event is expected to fold those vehicles into the existing Robotaxi fleet within days of the launch.
Thank you so much @Tesla for inviting us to the Cybercab launch in Austin! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/F1rAR8zd5O
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 22, 2026
Austin previously ran Robotaxi from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. as of last September, a schedule set before the service expanded into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and the Bay Area. Wednesday’s post did not specify whether that extended overnight window still applies in Austin specifically or whether 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. is now the standard across every market. Tesla’s post, visible on its official Robotaxi account, framed the change simply as fewer riders waiting around for a car.
Whether the wider hours hold once Cybercab enters the fleet next week is the next thing worth watching. Tesla has tended to expand Robotaxi in increments, first geofence, then hours, then fleet size, and each step so far has arrived without much advance notice.
Tesla Cybercab uses a unique strategy for picking up the right rider
Tesla ends in-house wrap service that always seemed like a short-term program
