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SpaceX competitor Blue Origin completes first suborbital launch in 10 months

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Prospective SpaceX competitor Blue Origin has completed a suborbital launch of its reusable New Shepard rocket for the first time in 10 months.

Originally designed to help usher in a new wave of space tourism as early as 2017, the tourist launch debut of the New Shepard rocket – alongside fellow tourism company Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo – appears destined to forever be “a couple flights” away.

Essentially the same diameter as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, New Shepard measures ~3.6m (~12 ft) wide, ~15m (~50 ft) tall, and likely weighs around 35 metric tons (~75,000 lb) at liftoff. The small rocket booster is powered by one liquid hydrogen and oxygen (hydrolox) BE-3 engine capable of producing ~500 kN (110,000 lbf) of thrust and is designed for what Blue Origin calls “operational reuse”.

In practice, Blue Origin has only built four New Shepards in ~6 years and has never flown the same booster twice in less than ~60 days, despite an effectively blank-check budget from owner Jeff Bezos since the company’s founding in 2000.

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Falcon 9’s first stage is some three times taller, 13 times heavier, and 13 times more powerful than New Shepard and still routinely flies higher and faster in support of orbital-class missions. (SpaceX)

It’s truly difficult to fathom why, if New Shepard is capable of semi-rapid reuse, Blue Origin has only launched the small rocket an average of once every six months in the last four years. If the company genuinely wants to routinely launch space tourists above the Karman Line (100 km), actually demonstrating safety with as many consecutively successful launches as possible is a no-brainer given an effectively unlimited budget and schedule.

Put a different way, Blue Origin was technically founded two years before SpaceX. In the 6-7 years since Bezos’ space startup began building the first New Shepard, the company has built just four vehicles total, one of which was destroyed when it failed its first landing attempt. In that same timeframe, SpaceX has built ~50 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters and completed 83 successful launches, only one of which was intentional suborbital.

In the ten months it has taken Blue Origin to complete two suborbital launches of the same New Shepard 3 booster, SpaceX has completed 18 Falcon 9 launches, orbited more than 600 self-built Starlink satellites, become the first private company in history to launch astronauts into orbit, shipped the first upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft to Florida, landed a booster after a satellite launch for the US military, beat NASA’s Space Shuttle to make Falcon 9 the world’s most rapidly reusable rocket, completed six orbital-class launches with the same Falcon booster, performed two successful Starship hop tests, crushed a decades-old world record with a Raptor engine, and much, much more.

ULA’s Vulcan, Blue Origin’s New Glenn, and SpaceX’s Starship. (ULA/Blue Origin/SpaceX)
New Glenn is a massive reusable rocket that will stand ~82m (270 ft) tall and be able to launch up to 45 metric tons (100,000 lb) to low Earth orbit (LEO). (Blue Origin)
New Glenn is a massive reusable rocket that will stand ~82m (270 ft) tall and be able to launch up to 45 metric tons (100,000 lb) to low Earth orbit (LEO). (Blue Origin)

While Blue Origin is technically working on New Glenn – a massive orbital-class reusable rocket with performance similar to Falcon Heavy – and the powerful BE-4 engine, mean to power both New Glenn and ULA’s new Vulcan rocket, both appear to be in the throes of technical difficulties and delays. During Blue Origin’s official New Shepard Flight 13 (NS-13) webcast, the company didn’t mention either program once.

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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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Tesla Full Self-Driving shows stunning maneuver in Europe to silence skeptics

In a striking demonstration of autonomous driving prowess, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system recently showcased its capabilities on the narrow rural roads of the Netherlands. Captured in two in-car videos, the system encountered scenarios that would challenge even the most experienced human drivers.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving, fresh on the heels of its approval for operation on European roads for the first time, showed off a stunning maneuver that will certainly silence any skeptics on the continent.

Fresh off its approval in the Netherlands, Full Self-Driving is working toward a significant expansion into more parts of Europe.

In a striking demonstration of autonomous driving prowess, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system recently showcased its capabilities on the narrow rural roads of the Netherlands. Captured in two in-car videos, the system encountered scenarios that would challenge even the most experienced human drivers.

In the first clip, a wide tractor occupied more than half the lane on a tight two-way road. Rather than braking abruptly or forcing a collision risk, FSD smoothly edged the vehicle onto the adjacent bike path—using the extra space with precision—before seamlessly returning to the lane once clear.

The second clip was equally demanding: while overtaking a group of cyclists, an oncoming car approached at speed.

FSD maintained a safe, minimal buffer to the cyclists while timing the pass perfectly, avoiding any swerve or hesitation that could unsettle passengers or other road users.

This maneuver highlights FSD’s advanced spatial reasoning and predictive planning. On roads often under three meters wide, with no room for error, the system calculated available clearance in real time, incorporated shoulder and path geometry, and executed a controlled deviation without compromising safety.

It treated the bike path as a legitimate extension of navigable space, something many drivers might hesitate to do, while respecting Dutch road norms and cyclist priority.

Such feats align closely with a growing library of impressive FSD maneuvers documented on camera worldwide.

In urban Amsterdam, for instance, FSD has navigated the world’s densest cyclist environments, weaving through hundreds of unpredictable bike movements on canal-side streets with tram tracks and pedestrians.

One uncut drive showed it yielding smoothly at crossings, overtaking where needed, and even handling a near-perfect auto-park in a tight residential spot, demonstrating the same low-speed precision seen in the rural clips.

Teslas using FSD have tackled turbo roundabouts in the Netherlands, complex multi-lane circles notorious for geometry challenges, merging confidently while yielding to traffic. Similar clips depict smooth handling of construction zones, emergency vehicle pull-overs, and gated parking barriers, where the car stops precisely, waits for clearance, and proceeds without driver input.

Collectively, these examples illustrate FSD’s evolution toward handling the unpredictable.

The rural Netherlands maneuvers aren’t isolated. Instead, they reflect a pattern of spatial awareness, cyclist deference, and traffic anticipation seen from city streets to highways.

As FSD continues refining through real-world data, videos like this one are certainly building a compelling case for its readiness on Europe’s varied roads.

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Tesla utilizes its ‘Rave Cave’ for new awesome safety feature

Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.

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Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla is utilizing its ‘Rave Cave’ for an awesome new safety feature that will arrive with the upcoming Spring Update for 2026.

Part of the massive interior overhaul of both the Model 3 “Highland” and Model Y “Juniper” was the addition of interior accent lighting to help bring out the mood of the vehicle, increase the customization of the interior, and to create a unique listening experience.

Tesla added a Sync Lights feature that will strobe the accent strips with the beat of the music.

It is one of the most unique and one of the coolest non-functional features of a Tesla, as it does not improve the driving of the vehicle, but makes it a cool and personal addition to the interior.

However, Tesla is going to take it one step further, as the Rave Cave lights will now be used for blind spot recognition. This feature will be added as the Spring 2026 Update starts to roll out.

Tesla writes:

“Accent lights now turn red when an object is in your blind spot and your turn signal is engaged, or when an approaching object is detected while parked.”

This neat new safety feature will now increase the likelihood of a driver, who is operating their Tesla manually, of seeing the blind spot warnings that are currently available on the A pillar and on the center touchscreen.

These new alerts will now warn drivers of cross traffic as they back out of a parking space with little to no visibility of what is coming. It is a great new addition that will only increase the safety of the vehicles, while also utilizing something that is already installed in these specific Model 3 and Model Y units.

The Model 3 and Model Y were the central focus of the Spring 2026 Update, especially considering the fact that the Model S and Model X are basically gone, with only a few hundred units left. Additionally, Tesla included new Immersive Sound and Car Visualization for the Model 3 and Model Y specifically in this new update.

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Tesla parked 50+ Cybercabs outside its Texas Factory with some crash tested

Dozens of Tesla Cybercabs have been spotted at Giga Texas crash testing facility ahead of launch.

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Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)
Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas on April 13, 2026 [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Drone footage captured by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer shows over 50 units of Tesla Cybercab at the Austin factory campus, including several units clustered by Tesla’s on-site crash testing facility.

The outbound lot at Gigafactory Texas sits just outside the factory exit and serves as the primary staging area where finished vehicles are held before being loaded onto transport carriers or dispatched for validation testing. On any given day, the lot holds a mix of Model Y and Cybertruck units alongside the growing Tesla Cybercab fleet, as can be seen in the drone footage captured by Joe Tegtmeyer.

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas on April 13, 2026 [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Roughly 50 Cybercab units are visible across the campus, parked in tight organized rows. Most of the units visible still carry steering wheels and pedals, temporary additions Tesla included to satisfy current safety regulations while the vehicles accumulate real-world data ahead of full regulatory approval for a steering wheel-free design.

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla Cybercab fleet spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla operates dedicated Crash Labs at both its Giga Texas and Fremont facilities that are purpose-built for controlled structural crash tests. Historically, automakers begin intensive crash testing roughly one to two months before volume production kicks off. The Cybertruck followed almost exactly that pattern. The Cybercab appears to be on the same track facility that we first saw back in October 2025.

Tesla Cybercab crash test units spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

Tesla Cybercab crash test units spotted at Gigafactory Texas [Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer)

The first production Cybercab rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026. Volume production is now targeted for April. Musk previously wrote on X that “the early production rate will be agonizingly slow, but eventually end up being insanely fast,” and separately stated Tesla is targeting at least 2 million Cybercab units per year. Commercial robotaxi service in Austin is targeted for late 2026.

 

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