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SpaceX astronaut launch slips into November
Update: A “minor medical issue involving one of [the] crew members” has forced NASA to delay Crew-3 a bit less than four more days from early November 3rd to 11:36 pm EDT (03:36 UTC), Saturday, November 6th. Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon are in good health and will remain vertical at Pad 39A.
Poor sea states and weather conditions along the Falcon 9 rocket’s ‘ascent corridor’ has forced SpaceX and NASA to delay their next joint astronaut launch from Sunday to Wednesday.
While conditions improved soon after, unfavorable orbital mechanics precluded backup launch windows on Monday or Tuesday, pushing SpaceX’s Crew-3 launch and crew rotation mission to no earlier than (NET) 1:10 am EDT (05:10 UTC) on Wednesday, November 3rd. Barring further delays, NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer – all rookies save for Thomas – will ride a new Crew Dragon spacecraft into space atop once-flown Falcon 9 booster B1067 and a new, expendable Falcon upper stage.
Due to the delay, Crew-2 Dragon astronauts Shane Kimbrough (NASA), Megan McArthur (NASA), Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA), and Thomas Pesquet (ESA) will spend several more days in orbit than initially planned as they wait for Crew-3 to relieve them – hence the term “crew rotation.”
Crew-3’s delay means that for the second time in H2 2021, after launching 20 times in just the first half of the year, SpaceX hasn’t launched once in an entire month. Put simply, SpaceX’s internal Starlink launch cadence fell off a cliff in July and hasn’t recovered since. In H1 2021, 14 of 20 launches primarily carried Starlink satellites. With just two months left in the year, SpaceX has only launched one Starlink mission in H2 2021 and twice otherwise. Crew-3 will be the company’s fourth Falcon 9 launch in as many months.
It’s unclear just how much of that downtick has been a conscious decision made by SpaceX but odds are good that whatever is causing it is largely outside of the company’s control or, at least, is not intentional. One clear possibility is that SpaceX has run into significant issues while attempting to finalize, qualify, and mass-produce new space lasers designed to allow Starlink satellites to route communications without ground stations. So far, SpaceX has only launched one batch of 51 new Starlink V1.5 satellites, seemingly ruling out design or qualification issues. That leaves issues with production, which could potentially be hampered by widespread shortages currently affecting most manufacturing industries to some degree.
Most recently, SpaceX indefinitely delayed a second Starlink V1.5 launch previously scheduled in mid-October. According to launch photographer Ben Cooper, SpaceX has no other launches scheduled in November beyond Crew-3 and Starlink 2-3, both of which were initially meant to launch in October. In December, things could potentially pick back up, with NASA’s IXPE X-ray observatory, a European imaging satellite (CSG-2/CosmoSkyMed), Cargo Dragon’s CRS-24 resupply mission, and Turkey’s Turksat 5B communications satellite all scheduled to launch in the last month of the year.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck, and nobody noticed. But to be fair, nobody could have, but it was revealed by the program’s lead engineer that it was aimed toward simplifying manufacturing through a minor change in casting.
After the Cybertruck was given a Top Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for its reputation as the safest pickup on the market, some wondered what had changed about the vehicle.
Tesla makes changes to its vehicles routinely through Over-the-Air software updates, but aesthetic changes are relatively rare. Vehicles go through refreshes every few years, as the Model 3 and Model Y did earlier this year. However, the Cybertruck is one of the vehicles that has not changed much since its launch in late 2023, but it has gone through some minor changes.
Most recently, Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck program’s Lead Engineer, stated that the company had made a minor change to the casting of the all-electric pickup for manufacturing purposes. This change took place in April:
We made a minor change on the casting for manufacturability in April. Our Internal testing shows no difference in crash result but IIHS only officially tested the latest version
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 17, 2025
The change is among the most subtle that can be made, but it makes a massive difference in manufacturing efficiency, build quality, and scalability.
Morrill revealed Tesla’s internal testing showed no difference in crash testing results performed by the IIHS.
The 2025 Cybertruck received stellar ratings in each of the required testing scenarios and categories. The Top Safety Pick+ award is only given if it excels in rigorous crash tests. This requires ‘Good’ ratings in updated small and moderate overlap front, side, roof, and head restraints.
Additionally, it must have advanced front crash prevention in both day and night. Most importantly, the vehicle must have a ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable’ headlights standard on all trims, with the “+ ” specifically demanding the toughest new updated moderate overlap test that checks rear-seat passenger protection alongside driver safety.
Tesla has entered an interesting situation with its Full Self-Driving suite in California, as the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles had adopted an order for a suspension of the company’s sales license, but it immediately put it on hold.
The company has been granted a reprieve as the DMV is giving Tesla an opportunity to “remedy the situation.” After the suspension was recommended for 30 days as a penalty, the DMV said it would give Tesla 90 days to allow the company to come into compliance.
The DMV is accusing Tesla of misleading consumers by using words like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving on its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) features.
The State’s DMV Director, Steve Gordon, said that he hoped “Tesla will find a way to get these misleading statements corrected.” However, Tesla responded to the story on Tuesday, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order for the company using the term Autopilot.
It said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.” It added that “sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
Tesla has used the terms Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but has added the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite, hoping to remedy some of the potential issues that regulators in various areas might have with the labeling of the program.
It might not be too long before Tesla stops catching flak for using the Full Self-Driving name to describe its platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi suite has continued to improve, and this week, vehicles were spotted in Austin without any occupants. CEO Elon Musk would later confirm that Tesla had started testing driverless rides in Austin, hoping to launch rides without any supervision by the end of the year.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck and nobody noticed
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
