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SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft returns to Earth after second orbital mission
SpaceX’s workhorse Cargo Dragon spacecraft has returned from its 16th successful mission to orbit, in this case as the fourth flight-proven Dragon capsule.
CRS-15 carried several thousand pounds of cargo to the International Space Station on June 29 and transported a roughly equivalent amount of invaluable cargo and scientific experiments from orbit back to Earth – incredibly, SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon is currently the only operational spacecraft in the world able to return an appreciable amount of (non-human) cargo back to Earth. The toasty-looking vehicle was captured after a soft landing in the Pacific Ocean and transported back to Port of San Pedro aboard SpaceX vessel NRC Quest between August 3rd and 5th.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is back at Port of LA, full of science, after a month spent at the International Space Station. #spacex #nasa pic.twitter.com/jWhZQTubgK
— Pauline Acalin (@w00ki33) August 5, 2018
Cargo Dragon is the only commercial orbital spacecraft in history that has been reused and stands in the company of a tiny handful of reusable orbital vehicles built or procured by countries, including the Space Shuttle, a one-off Mercury capsule reflight, and a few others. While most of each Cargo Dragon can be reused, the rear segment (known as a trunk) will always be expended, and the vehicle’s parachutes and heatshield also have to be replaced after each ocean recovery.
Still, the vast majority of the cost and effort that goes into producing and operationalizing Cargo Dragon is contained within the capsule itself, including extremely sensitive electronics, docking equipment, aluminum, titanium, and carbon composite structures, and its 12 Draco thrusters for maneuvering on orbit, as well as propellant tanks and many dozens of other long-lead components.

According to CEO Elon Musk and COO Gwynne Shotwell, Cargo Dragon was certified from the start with a spacecraft lifespan of three orbital missions, and SpaceX now has four Cargo Dragon capsules in various states of storage or refurbishment, some readying for their third and final launches over the next eighteen months. Aside from those twice-flown Dragons, three once-flown capsules remain in the flight-proven Dragon roost – more than enough to complete the five cargo missions remaining in SpaceX’s CRS-1 (Commercial Supply Services) contract. CRS-1’s last (20th) contracted mission is currently scheduled for early 2020, after which a modified version of Cargo Dragon (Dragon 2) will take over all future SpaceX resupply missions to the ISS.
- SpaceX’s CRS-15 Cargo Dragon returns to Port of San Pedro, 08/05/18. (Pauline Acalin)
- SpaceX’s CRS-15 Cargo Dragon returns to Port of San Pedro, 08/05/18. (Pauline Acalin)
- SpaceX’s CRS-15 Cargo Dragon returns to Port of San Pedro, 08/05/18. (Pauline Acalin)
- Cargo Dragon C110 is craned from NRC Quest to SpaceX’s Port of San Pedro berth, 08/05/18. (Pauline Acalin)
Back at the docks, Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin managed to capture some gorgeous noon-lit photos of Cargo Dragon capsule C110’s (Dragon 1, serial #10) return from the Pacific to Port of San Pedro, even catching a rare glimpse of the capsule’s extra toasty rear and parachute compartment as SpaceX vessel NRC Quest sailed by. Patience further paid off, and she was able to watch as the capsule was craned from Quest to dock and later caught a few close-ups of the spacecraft before it was rushed under cover to extricate dozens of time-sensitive scientific experiments and offload several thousand pounds of miscellaneous cargo.
SpaceX’s next Cargo Dragon launch is targeting the end of November 2018 and will mark the spacecraft’s first launch atop Falcon 9 Block 5, likely with both a flight-proven booster and capsule.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet (including fairing catcher Mr Steven) check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
Elon Musk’s social media platform X will adopt a Tesla-esque approach to software updates for its algorithm.
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
X’s updates to its updates
As per Musk in a post on X, the social media company will be making a new algorithm to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users. These updates would then be repeated every four weeks.
“We will make the new 𝕏 algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days. This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk wrote in his post.
The initiative somewhat mirrors Tesla’s over-the-air update model, where vehicle software is regularly refined and pushed to users with detailed release notes. This should allow users to better understand the details of X’s every update and foster a healthy feedback loop for the social media platform.
xAI and X
X, formerly Twitter, has been acquired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI last year. Since then, xAI has seen a rapid rise in valuation. Following the company’s the company’s upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, estimates now suggest that xAI is worth tens about $230 to $235 billion. That’s several times larger than Tesla when Elon Musk received his controversial 2018 CEO Performance Award.
As per xAI, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.
News
Tesla FSD Supervised wins MotorTrend’s Best Driver Assistance Award
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has been named the best driver-assistance technology on the market, earning top honors at the 2026 MotorTrend Best Tech Awards.
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system. And it wasn’t even close.
MotorTrend reverses course
MotorTrend awarded Tesla FSD (Supervised) its 2026 Best Tech Driver Assistance title after extensive testing of the latest v14 software. The publication acknowledged that it had previously criticized earlier versions of FSD for erratic behavior and near-miss incidents, ultimately favoring rivals such as GM’s Super Cruise in earlier evaluations.
According to MotorTrend, the newest iteration of FSD resolved many of those shortcomings. Testers said v14 showed far smoother behavior in complex urban scenarios, including unprotected left turns, traffic circles, emergency vehicles, and dense city streets. While the system still requires constant driver supervision, judges concluded that no other advanced driver-assistance system currently matches its breadth of capability.
Unlike rival systems that rely on combinations of cameras, radar, lidar, and mapped highways, Tesla’s FSD operates using a camera-only approach and is capable of driving on city streets, rural roads, and freeways. MotorTrend stated that pure utility, the ability to handle nearly all road types, ultimately separated FSD from competitors like Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise, and BMW’s Highway Assistant.
High cost and high capability
MotorTrend also addressed FSD’s pricing, which remains significantly higher than rival systems. Tesla currently charges $8,000 for a one-time purchase or $99 per month for a subscription, compared with far lower upfront and subscription costs from other automakers. The publication noted that the premium is justified given FSD’s unmatched scope and continuous software evolution.
Safety remained a central focus of the evaluation. While testers reported collision-free operation over thousands of miles, they noted ongoing concerns around FSD’s configurable driving modes, including options that allow aggressive driving and speeds beyond posted limits. MotorTrend emphasized that, like all Level 2 systems, FSD still depends on a fully attentive human driver at all times.
Despite those caveats, the publication concluded that Tesla’s rapid software progress fundamentally reshaped the competitive landscape. For drivers seeking the most capable hands-on driver-assistance system available today, MotorTrend concluded Tesla FSD (Supervised) now stands alone at the top.
News
Elon Musk’s Grokipedia surges to 5.6M articles, almost 79% of English Wikipedia
The explosive growth marks a major milestone for the AI-powered online encyclopedia, which was launched by Elon Musk’s xAI just months ago.
Elon Musk’s Grokipedia has grown to an impressive 5,615,201 articles as of today, closing in on 79% of the English Wikipedia’s current total of 7,119,376 articles.
The explosive growth marks a major milestone for the AI-powered online encyclopedia, which was launched by Elon Musk’s xAI just months ago. Needless to say, it would only be a matter of time before Grokipedia exceeds English Wikipedia in sheer volume.
Grokipedia’s rapid growth
xAI’s vision for Grokipedia emphasizes neutrality, while Grok’s reasoning capabilities allow for fast drafting and fact-checking. When Elon Musk announced the initiative in late September 2025, he noted that Grokipedia would be an improvement to Wikipedia because it would be designed to avoid bias.
At the time, Musk noted that Grokipedia “is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.”
Grokipedia was launched in late October, and while xAI was careful to list it only as Version 0.1 at the time, the online encyclopedia immediately earned praise. Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger highlighted the project’s innovative approach, noting how it leverages AI to fill knowledge gaps and enable rapid updates. Netizens also observed how Grokipedia tends to present articles in a more objective manner compared to Wikipedia, which is edited by humans.
Elon Musk’s ambitious plans
With 5,615,201 total articles, Grokipedia has now grown to almost 79% of English Wikipedia’s article base. This is incredibly quick, though Grokipedia remains text-only for now. xAI, for its part, has now updated the online encyclopedia’s iteration to v0.2.
Elon Musk has shared bold ideas for Grokipedia, including sending a record of the entire knowledge base to space as part of xAI’s mission to preserve and expand human understanding. At some point, Musk stated that Grokipedia will be renamed to Encyclopedia Galactica, and it will be sent to the cosmos.
“When Grokipedia is good enough (long way to go), we will change the name to Encyclopedia Galactica. It will be an open source distillation of all knowledge, including audio, images and video. Join xAI to help build the sci-fi version of the Library of Alexandria!” Musk wrote, adding in a later post that “Copies will be etched in stone and sent to the Moon, Mars and beyond. This time, it will not be lost.”



