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SpaceX installs Dragon spaceship on the rocket that’ll take it to space (again)
For the third time ever, SpaceX has installed a Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled to launch astronauts on the Falcon 9 rocket that’ll carry it to orbit, sailing past one of the mission’s last major preflight milestones.
Known as Crew-2, the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) mission will be SpaceX’s second operational crew ferry mission after its operational Crew-1 debut launched flawlessly on November 15th, 2020. Since November 16th, the Crew-1 Crew Dragon has been docked to the International Space Station (ISS) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – marking at least two major firsts – and won’t return to Earth until Crew-2 has safely joined it at the station.
Simultaneously developed as part of the Commercial Crew Program, a raft of technical and organizational shortcomings have extensively delayed Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule, effectively forcing NASA to lean on SpaceX to pick up the slack with multiple back-to-back Crew Dragon missions. Organizational excellence aside, Crew-2 is also on track to secure two of the most significant reusability achievements in SpaceX’s long history of significant reusability achievements.
Mere days after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off with NASA astronauts aboard for the first time ever, becoming the first crewed launch in history to use a commercially-developed rocket or spacecraft, the space agency effectively gave the company permission to fly its astronauts on flight-proven versions of those same vehicles.
While those plans have effectively fallen under the radar relative to other SpaceX activities, it’s not unreasonable to say that a successful Crew-2 launch with both a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster and Crew Dragon capsule would be one of the most significant technical achievements in the company’s history. At the bare minimum, it will be the most symbolically significant achievement in SpaceX’s history.
In essence, success would mean that SpaceX has unequivocally proven that a private company can develop – from scratch – methods of rocket and spacecraft reusability that are so successful and so reliable that perhaps the most risk-averse customer on Earth is willing to place the lives of its astronauts in the hands of those flight-proven spacecraft and rockets. If SpaceX can accomplish that feat with Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon, there is no practical reason to doubt that it can be repeated with Starship – a vehicle that has already piqued NASA’s interest.
The Crew Dragon capsule assigned to Crew-2 debuted on May 30th, 2020 and carried NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS without any major issue, where it spent a little over two months in orbit. On August 2nd, the spacecraft safely reentered Earth’s atmosphere traveling around 7.5 kilometers per second (17,000 mph) and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico with both astronauts none the worse for wear. Since then, SpaceX has disassembled the Dragon, carefully inspected every possible inch, and refurbished the vehicle for Crew-2.
Despite the historic nature of the task of qualifying and refurbishing the first commercial spacecraft in history that is expected to launch NASA astronauts twice, Crew Dragon C206’s turnaround will be the fastest in Dragon history – and by a margin of almost 40%.
After acing its role in SpaceX’s first operational astronaut launch five months ago, Falcon 9 booster B1061 will also be flying for the second time on Crew-2 – especially fitting given that the Crew-2 will meet the only other spacecraft and astronauts launched on the same booster at the ISS. As of Thursday, April 15th, Crew-2 is seven days away from a launch planned no earlier than 6:11 am EDT (10:11 UTC) on Thursday, April 22nd. The flight-proven Dragon and Falcon 9 booster and a new, expendable upper stage are expected to roll out to Pad 39A within the next few days for an integrated static fire test 4-5 days prior to launch.
Elon Musk
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.
Tesla removed its basic Autopilot package as a standard feature in the United States. The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders, and shifts the company’s strategy towards paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
Tesla removes Autopilot
As per observations from the electric vehicle community on social media, Tesla no longer lists Autopilot as standard in its vehicles in the U.S. This suggests that features such as lane-centering and Autosteer have been removed as standard equipment. Previously, most Tesla vehicles came with Autopilot by default, which offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.
The change resulted in backlash from some Tesla owners and EV observers, particularly as competing automakers, including mainstream players like Toyota, offer features like lane-centering as standard on many models, including budget vehicles.
That being said, the removal of Autopilot suggests that Tesla is concentrating its autonomy roadmap around FSD subscriptions rather than bundled driver-assistance features. It would be interesting to see how Tesla manages its vehicles’ standard safety features, as it seems out of character for Tesla to make its cars less safe over time.
Musk announces FSD price increases
Following the Autopilot changes, Elon Musk stated on X that Tesla is planning to raise subscription prices for FSD as its capabilities improve. In a post on X, Musk stated that the current $99-per-month price for supervised FSD would increase over time, especially as the system itself becomes more robust.
“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (Unsupervised FSD),” Musk wrote.
At the time of his recent post, Tesla still offers FSD as a one-time purchase for $8,000, but Elon Musk has confirmed that this option will be discontinued on February 14, leaving subscriptions as the only way to access the system.
Tesla has initiated Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time, as the all-electric pickup has officially made its way to the United Arab Emirates, marking the newest territory to receive the polarizing truck.
Tesla launched orders for the Cybertruck in the Middle East back in September 2025, just months after the company confirmed that it planned to launch the pickup in the region, which happened in April.
I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned
By early October, Tesla launched the Cybertruck configurator in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, with pricing starting at around AED 404,900, or about $110,000 for the Dual Motor configuration.
This decision positioned the Gulf states as key early international markets, and Tesla was hoping to get the Cybertruck outside of North America for the first time, as it has still been tough to launch in other popular EV markets, like Europe and Asia.
By late 2025, Tesla had pushed delivery timelines slightly and aimed for an early 2026 delivery launch in the Middle East. The first official customer deliveries started this month, and a notable handover event occurred in Dubai’s Al Marmoom desert area, featuring a light and fire show.
Around 63 Cybertrucks made their way to customers during the event:
First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA
— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026
As of this month, the Cybertruck still remains available for configuration on Tesla’s websites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Israel. Deliveries are rolling out progressively, with the UAE leading as the first to see hands-on customer events.
In other markets, most notably Europe, there are still plenty of regulatory hurdles that Tesla is hoping to work through, but they may never be resolved. The issues come from the unique design features that conflict with the European Union’s (EU) stringent safety standards.
These standards include pedestrian protection regulations, which require vehicles to minimize injury risks in collisions. However, the Cybertruck features sharp edges and an ultra-hard stainless steel exoskeleton, and its rigid structure is seen as non-compliant with the EU’s list of preferred designs.
The vehicle’s gross weight is also above the 3.5-tonne threshold for standard vehicles, which has prompted Tesla to consider a more compact design. However, the company’s focus on autonomy and Robotaxi has likely pushed that out of the realm of possibility.
For now, Tesla will work with the governments that want it to succeed in their region, and the Middle East has been a great partner to the company with the launch of the Cybertruck.
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time. https://t.co/ShMpZjefwB
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) January 22, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi program also operates in the California Bay Area, where the fleet is much larger, but Safety Monitors are placed in the driver’s seat and utilize Full Self-Driving, so it is essentially the same as an Uber driver using a Tesla with FSD.
In Austin, the removal of Safety Monitors marks a substantial achievement for Tesla moving forward. Now that it has enough confidence to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis altogether, there are nearly unlimited options for the company in terms of expansion.
While it is hoping to launch the ride-hailing service in more cities across the U.S. this year, this is a much larger development than expansion, at least for now, as it is the first time it is performing driverless rides in Robotaxi anywhere in the world for the public to enjoy.
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
Tesla begins Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time
