SpaceX
SpaceX prepares for last launch until August: Caution over cadence
After a second automatic T-10s launch abort Monday night, Elon Musk expressed a welcome prioritization of caution over an attempt to break cadence records. As such, the launch team at LC-39A are standing down an attempt today and instead conducting a full review of the Falcon 9 vehicle and ground systems, pushing the launch to either July 5th or 6th. As Musk transparently phrased it, there is only one chance to get a rocket launch right.
We're going to spend the 4th doing a full review of rocket & pad systems. Launch no earlier than 5th/6th. Only one chance to get it right …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2017
Following a truly unprecedented series of launches for the company, there was understandably a bit of annoyance from fans watching the coverage for a second time, as well as from journalists seeking to cover the launch. I think a tweet from former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale summed up the proper response most coherently, however, stating that “it’s tough to remain vigilant and do the right thing, extremely tough after a couple of launch scrubs and [with] range closure looming”. Remaining vigilant is precisely what SpaceX is doing by calling off another attempt on July 4th and choosing to instead carefully examine the systems involved to ensure that there is no real issue with pad or vehicle hardware.
For launch companies, there are an untold number of external and internal pressures urging executives to attempt launches, be those financial, political, or something as simple as employees wanting to get home for a holiday. However, past failures of launch vehicles, particularly the Space Shuttle, have demonstrated that constant vigilance is a necessity when dealing with rocketry. Wayne Hale was flight director for forty Shuttle launches. In fact, he became Program Manager the day of the Columbia disaster, which occurred at the beginning of February in 2003.
In this context, his statement is almost certainly intended as positive – albeit solemn – encouragement for the choice to take a more cautious route before attempting another launch. SpaceX itself has experienced two widely publicized failures of the Falcon 9, with the most recent of those having occurred less than ten months ago. After China suffered a complex failure during the second launch of their Long March 5 heavy lift vehicle last Sunday, Musk offered sympathy for those involved. Any failure in the launch industry often acts as a wake-up call for other companies and agencies involved, and undoubtedly becomes a reminder that one cannot become too comfortable or allow launch processes or vehicle manufacturing to become too routine when the stakes are as high as they can be.
Sorry to hear about China launch failure today. I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it. https://t.co/iOkj6egF3O
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2017
It goes without saying that SpaceX is sharply aware of the need to ensure reliability and safety as they march ever closer to the debut flight of Crew Dragon and its first crewed launches, likely to occur in early 2018. If the stakes for launching the payloads of commercial customers are already high, the price of failures that could lead to loss of life are unspeakable and ought to humble those fans and bystanders who may be losing patience while waiting for a third (admittedly enthralling) launch. Those eager to watch SpaceX’s live coverage must seek to remember that the launches we love to watch occur because paying customers have placed trust in SpaceX to deliver their payloads to orbit, be those payloads massive geostationary communications satellites or astronauts and cargo headed to the ISS. Rightfully so, the customer will always come first, and routine live coverage of rocket launches must always be treated as the luxury it is for the indefinite future.
SpaceX has successfully recovery and reused both Falcon 9 and Cargo Dragon in the last several weeks, and has also recovered three first stages from the three related launches that occurred in that same time period. (SpaceX)
Admittedly, a cornerstone of SpaceX’s mission as a company is making access to orbit reliable, affordable, and routine, but there will always be risk in rocket launches, just as there will always be risk when one boards a plane, drives a car, or simply walks down the sidewalk along a busy street. Minimizing and reducing the risk present in spaceflight will take a considerable amount of time and effort, and doing what is necessary to prevent failures from negatively impacting the customers that make SpaceX viable as a company is both a rational and ethical strategy.
Returning to current events, the Falcon 9 intended to launch Intelsat 35e went horizontal on July 4, and is likely now in the integration facility present at LC-39A, providing easier access to engineers as they comb over the vehicle to ensure its health. After an absolutely picturesque launch attempt Monday evening, weather is looking even better for a potential launch attempt on either Wednesday or Thursday evening.
If the vehicle and pad cooperate, Intelsat 35e will be a facing send off for the Eastern Range before it shuts down for the remainder of July to undergo routine maintenance. SpaceX currently does not have Vandenberg (West coast) missions scheduled until August, so July will likely see no launches from the company. There is still plenty to be done in lieu of launching customer payloads, however. LC-40, the pad damaged in the Amos-6 static fire incident last September, is currently preparing to be reactivated, with a recent interview of Gwynne Shotwell pointing to its initial availability sometime in August. Once it is reactivated, all single core Falcon launches will be transferred to LC-40, and LC-39A will begin undergoing structural modifications to accommodate both crewed missions in 2018 and Falcon Heavy, which could debut as early as Q4 of 2017.
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- Intelsat 35e, July 2nd. (SpaceX)
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- A render of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon at LC-39A. (SpaceX)
The two most visible changes that will occur at LC-39A will be the installation of additional hold-down clamps and modifications to the Transporter Erector, as well as a Crew Access Arm, which will be attached to the large, vertical structure seen directly right of Falcon 9. Of note, it is very likely that at least two, if not all three of the first Falcon Heavy’s cores are already present at the Cape. After years of being deemed a paper rocket, Falcon Heavy is indeed very real and very close to being able to conduct its first launches.
A month of no launches from SpaceX will undoubtedly be less than thrilling, but the Air Force and Kennedy Space Center employees will get a much-deserved break from a busy launch manifest ahead of what will likely be an even busier final four months of the year. There is a lot to look forward to.
SpaceX is preparing for the 13th integrated flight test of its Starship system, with a targeted launch as early as Thursday, July 16. The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT from Starbase in South Texas.
This comes roughly seven weeks after Flight 12 on May 22, underscoring the company’s accelerating pace in its rapid development campaign. The mission will use the latest Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles equipped with Raptor 3 engines. Booster 20 will attempt a controlled boostback burn, followed by a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while Ship 40 will follow a suborbital trajectory.
Starship’s thirteenth flight test is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 16 → https://t.co/Rp7VwBzpWx pic.twitter.com/jdpFlQUEpF
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 11, 2026
Key objectives for Flight 13 will include demonstrating reliable stage separation, engine performance under various conditions, and controlled reentry.
A major milestone for Flight 13 is the first deployment of 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. These satellites feature advanced laser links for inter-satellite communication, deployable solar arrays, and onboard cameras, six of which will capture imagery of Starship’s heat shield during flight.
Several heat shield tiles on Ship 40 will be painted white to serve as imaging targets, while additional experiments test upgraded tiles on aft flaps, modified attachments on the aft skirt, and load-sensing tiles to measure stresses. The upper stage will also attempt a single Raptor engine relight in space before a targeted splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
These tests build directly on lessons from Flight 12, which introduced the V3 configuration but encountered issues including a booster flip anomaly during boostback and an engine-out event on the ship. Hardware and software modifications on Booster 20 and Ship 40 aim to improve engine relight reliability, startup sequencing, and overall robustness.
Next Starship launch aiming for Thursday https://t.co/SajPPd4pdb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2026
The short interval between Flights 12 and 13 highlights SpaceX’s iterative approach. Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that Starship launches will become “incredibly common” in the coming years.
The company envisions scaling to rates as high as one launch per hour within 4-5 years, potentially enabling thousands of flights annually. Such cadence is essential for Starship’s goals: establishing orbital refueling for lunar and Mars missions, deploying massive satellite constellations, and making life multiplanetary.
With each flight, Starship edges closer to full reusability and operational maturity. Success on July 16 would mark another step toward routine access to space and the ambitious vision of humanity becoming a spacefaring civilization.
Elon Musk posted a candid admission on his social media platform X on June 9, declaring that he had been “clearly wrong” about Anthropic. The statement marked a notable reversal from his earlier skepticism toward the AI company.
In September, Musk had written, “Winning was never in the set of possible outcomes for Anthropic,” reflecting his view at the time that the startup had lacked the foundation or even the trajectory to succeed in what is an incredibly intense race for advanced artificial intelligence.
Musk’s latest post came amid discussion of Anthropic’s reliance on external compute resources. He praised the company’s progress, stating that Anthropic is “obviously currently the leader in AI” and that “no company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable,” with expectations of a strong follow-up in Mythos 2.
The tone shifted dramatically from dismissal to acknowledgement of superior performance.
I was clearly wrong about Anthropic. They are obviously currently the leader in AI. No company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable and they will undoubtedly have Mythos 2 ready soon.
And I would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor.…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2026
The context of Musk’s comments added significance. Anthropic has been operating under a recent compute deal with SpaceXAI, Musk’s AI infrastructure-focused venture. The pair entered a short-term GPU lease agreement initiated in May, providing Anthropic access to critical computing power for training and deploying its frontier models.
SpaceXAI signs agreement with Anthropic for massive AI supercomputer access
Some observers had speculated that Musk could leverage this dependency to disadvantage a rival. Musk directly addressed the possibility, writing, “I would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor. That’s not my style.”
To support his commitment to ethical competition, Musk referenced concrete examples from his other companies. Tesla famously open-sourced its entire portfolio of electric vehicle patents in 2014. The move was designed to accelerate the global adoption of sustainable transportation technology rather than protect proprietary advantages.
Tesla also made its Supercharger network available to competing electric vehicle manufacturers, transforming what could have remained an exclusive charging ecosystem into a shared infrastructure that benefits the broader industry and reduces barriers for EV adoption.
Musk further pointed to SpaceX’s practices, noting that the company launches satellites for competing commercial systems “with no increase in price or use of unfair terms.” He extended the principle to his social platform, observing that “even my worst enemies attack me on this platform,” underscoring preference for open discourse over retaliation.
These examples have illustrated Musk’s long-standing philosophy that long-term technological progress is best served by open competition and infrastructure sharing rather than leveraging market power to stifle rivals. In the fast-evolving AI sector, where compute resources and model capabilities determine leadership, Musk’s stance suggests a willingness to compete on innovation and performance alone.
Musk’s admission arrives as SpaceXAI itself advances its own frontier models while maintaining business relationships across the ecosystem. By publicly correcting his earlier assessment and reaffirming principles of fair play, Musk highlights a model of competition that prioritizes advancement of the field over short-term tactical advantages.
Investor's Corner
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.
SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.
Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.
NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.
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Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.
One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence?
What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.
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