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SpaceX’s ‘In-Flight Abort’ Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 booster arrive in Florida
Approaching its second month between launches, SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters and their associated payloads continue to arrive in Florida in preparation for what will likely be a burst of several orbital launches in the final months of 2019.
On Tuesday, October 1st, local resident Marcos Hicks (@SpaceCoast_Life) and several other locals captured the latest arrival of a Falcon 9 booster in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This delivery comes just two weeks after Andrew Stoltz – another Space Coast local – lucked upon the arrival of a Falcon 9 payload fairing and one week after Arizona locals spotted a Falcon 9 booster heading East through the state.
On September 24th, an iconic and easily recognizable Falcon 9 booster was spotted heading East through Maricopa, Arizona, an extremely common (if not universal) pass-through point for SpaceX’s cross-country booster shipments. More likely than not, the booster spotted arriving in Cape Canaveral on October 1st is the same SpaceX rocket seen in Arizona one week prior, an indication that the Falcon 9 skipped testing in McGregor, Texas and is thus likely flight-proven.
48 hours later, NASA published photos of the arrival from SpaceX and announced that the rocket is, in fact, the flight-proven booster that will support the Crew Dragon’s critical In-Flight Abort test (IFA). SpaceX employees were still in the process of unwrapping the Falcon 9 booster, but enough of its body was visible to reveal soot, the telltale sign of a flight-proven SpaceX rocket. Impressively, the Crew Dragon that will support the spacecraft’s IFA test also apparently arrived in Florida in recent days.
According to NASASpaceflight.com, B1046 – the first Block 5 booster and first thrice-flown SpaceX rocket – is expected to support the critical Crew Dragon test flight. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has tweeted several times that there is a “high probability” that the booster will be completely destroyed during the suborbital test flight, a necessary sacrifice to prove that Dragon can escape from a failing rocket at any point during launch. SpaceX has a growing fleet of flight-proven boosters with multiple launches under their belts – B1046 will certainly be missed but its ‘retirement’ will impose no burden on the company’s launch manifest.
As stated in a recent FCC filing, Crew Dragon’s IFA test is scheduled to launch no earlier than (NET) November 23rd. The mission will proceed like any other routine Falcon 9 launch for the first 60 or so seconds, but will feature a “simulated orbital second stage” with a fake Merlin Vacuum engine that will almost certainly be smashed to pieces after Crew Dragon departs the rocket. It’s unclear if SpaceX will physically create failure conditions or if Crew Dragon’s abort will be directly triggered, but the spacecraft will ultimately ignite its SuperDraco abort system to speed half a mile away from the booster in just a few seconds.
This will occur during Max Q, the point during launch when the booster is experiencing maximum aerodynamic and thermal stresses, and Crew Dragon’s departure will essentially smash the rocket headfirst into a wall of supersonic air. The upper stage will likely disintegrate almost immediately, a process that will most likely lead to the destruction of the booster, as well.
Crew Dragon’s onboard launch abort system consists of four “powerpacks” composed of two SuperDracos each, equating to eight SuperDraco thrusters capable of producing up to 570 kN (130,000 lbf) of thrust. SpaceX recently highlighted their confidence in the abort thrusters with a brief video that showed off testing and touted an impressive record of successful static fires and overall reliability.
As Teslarati previously reported, the window for the test launch is expected to open no earlier than (NET) November 23rd. With both the booster and spacecraft now in Cape Canaveral, Florida, it is increasingly likely that SpaceX will be able to complete the IFA test before the end of 2019, a milestone that would increase the odds of SpaceX and NASA attempting Crew Dragon’s astronaut launch debut sometime in early 2020.
Aside from Crew Dragon, SpaceX has plans for as many as four internal Starlink launches between now and the new year, potentially placing as many as 240 more high-performance ‘v1.0’ satellites in orbit. Regardless of the specifics of how the schedule actually shakes out, it looks like SpaceX is working hard to end 2019 with a burst of orbital launch activity.
Check out Teslarati’s newsletters for prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket launch and recovery processes.
Elon Musk
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
A California regulatory filing just confirmed the exact battery size inside each Tesla Semi variant.
A regulatory filing published by the California Air Resources Board in April 2026 has put official numbers on what Tesla Semi owners and fleet buyers have long wanted confirmed: the exact battery capacities of both the Long Range and Standard Range Semi truck variants. CARB is California’s independent air quality regulator, and it certifies zero-emission powertrains before they can be sold or operated in the state. When a manufacturer submits a vehicle for certification, the resulting executive order becomes a public document, making it one of the most reliable sources for confirmed production specs on any EV.
The document lists two certified powertrain configurations. The Long Range Semi carries a usable battery capacity of 822 kWh, while the Standard Range version comes in at 548 kWh. Both use lithium-ion NCMA chemistry and share the same peak and steady-state motor output ratings of 800 kW and 525 kW respectively. Cross-referencing Tesla’s published efficiency figure of approximately 1.7 kWh per mile under full load, the 822 kWh pack supports roughly 480 miles of real-world range, which aligns closely with Tesla’s advertised 500-mile figure for the Long Range trim. The 548 kWh Standard Range pack works out to approximately 320 miles, again consistent with Tesla’s stated 325-mile target.
Here is a direct comparison of the two versions based on the CARB filing and published specs:
| Tesla Semi Spec | Long Range | Standard Range |
| Battery Capacity | 822 kWh | 548 kWh |
| Battery Chemistry | NCMA Li-Ion | NCMA Li-Ion |
| Peak Motor Power | 800 kW | 525 kW |
| Estimated Range | ~500 miles | ~325 miles |
| Efficiency | ~1.7 kWh/mile | ~1.7 kWh/mile |
| Est. Price | ~$290,000 | ~$260,000 |
| GVW Rating | 82,000 lbs | 82,000 lbs |
The timing of this certification is not incidental. On April 29, 2026, Semi Programme Director Dan Priestley confirmed on X that high-volume production is now ramping at Tesla’s dedicated 1.7-million-square-foot facility in Sparks, Nevada. A key advantage of the Nevada location is vertical integration: the 4680 battery cells powering the Semi are manufactured in the same complex, eliminating the supply chain bottleneck that had delayed the program for years.
Tesla’s long-term goal is to reach a production capacity of 50,000 trucks annually at the Nevada factory, which would represent roughly 20 percent of the entire North American Class 8 market. With CARB certification now in hand and the production line running, the regulatory and manufacturing groundwork for that target is in place.
Tesla became the first company to pass the United States government’s new Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) testing with the Model Y, completing each of the new tests with a passing performance.
In a landmark announcement on May 7, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) declared the 2026 Tesla Model Y the first vehicle to pass its newly ADAS benchmark under the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP).
Model Y vehicles manufactured on or after November 12, 2025, met rigorous pass/fail criteria for four newly added tests—pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning, and blind spot intervention—while also satisfying the program’s original four ADAS requirements: forward collision warning, crash imminent braking, dynamic brake support, and lane departure warning.
The NHTSA has just officially announced that the 2026 @Tesla Model Y is the first vehicle model to pass the agency’s new advanced driver assistance system tests.
2026 Tesla Model Y vehicles, manufactured on or after Nov. 12, 2025, successfully met the new criteria for four… pic.twitter.com/as8x1OsSL5
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 7, 2026
NHTSA administration Jonathan Morrison hailed the achievement as a milestone:
“Today’s announcement marks a significant step forward in our efforts to provide consumers with the most comprehensive safety ratings ever. By successfully passing these new tests, the 2026 Tesla Model Y demonstrates the lifesaving potential of driver assistance technologies and sets a high bar for the industry. We hope to see many more manufacturers develop vehicles that can meet these requirements.”
The updates to NCAP, finalized in late 2024 and effective for 2026 models, reflect growing recognition that ADAS features are no longer optional luxuries but essential tools for preventing crashes.
Pedestrian automatic emergency braking, for instance, targets one of the fastest-rising causes of roadway fatalities, while blind spot intervention and lane keeping assistance address common sources of side-swipes and run-off-road incidents. By incorporating objective, performance-based evaluations rather than mere presence of the technology, NHTSA aims to give buyers clearer data on real-world effectiveness.
This milestone arrives at a pivotal moment when vehicle autonomy is transitioning from science fiction to everyday reality.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and the impending rollout of robotaxis underscore a broader industry shift toward higher levels of automation. Yet regulators and consumers remain cautious: safety data must keep pace with technological ambition.
The Model Y’s perfect score on these ADAS benchmarks validates that current driver-assist systems—when engineered rigorously—can dramatically reduce human error, which still accounts for the vast majority of crashes.
For Tesla, the result reinforces its long-standing claim of building the safest vehicles on the road. More importantly, it signals to the entire auto sector that meeting elevated federal standards is achievable and expected.
As autonomy edges closer to Level 3 and beyond, where drivers may disengage more fully, such independent verification becomes critical. It builds public trust, informs purchasing decisions, and accelerates the development of systems that could one day eliminate tens of thousands of annual traffic deaths.
In an era when software-defined vehicles promise transformative mobility, the 2026 Model Y’s NHTSA triumph is more than a manufacturer accolade—it is a regulatory green light that autonomy’s future must be built on proven, testable safety foundations. The bar has been raised. The industry, and the roads we share, will be safer for it.
Tesla is going to fix the nearly 219,000 vehicles that it recalled due to an issue with the rearview camera with a simple software update, giving owners no need to travel to a service center to resolve the problem.
Tesla is formally recalling 218,868 U.S. vehicles after regulators discovered a software glitch that can delay the rearview camera image by up to 11 seconds when drivers shift into reverse.
The affected models include certain 2024-2025 Model 3 and Model Y, as well as 2023-2025 Model S and Model X vehicles running software version 2026.8.6 and equipped with Hardware 3 computers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined the lag violates Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 on rear visibility and could increase crash risk.
Yet this is no ordinary recall. Owners do not need to schedule a service-center visit, hand over keys, or wait for parts.
Tesla fans call for recall terminology update, but the NHTSA isn’t convinced it’s needed
Tesla identified the issue on April 10, halted further deployment of the faulty firmware the same day, and began pushing a corrective over-the-air (OTA) software update on April 11.
By the time the NHTSA posted the recall notice on May 6, more than 99.92 percent of the affected fleet had already received the fix. Tesla reports no crashes, injuries, or fatalities linked to the glitch.
The episode underscores a deeper problem with regulatory language. For decades, “recall” meant hauling a vehicle to a dealership for hardware repairs or replacements. That definition no longer fits software-defined cars. When a fix arrives wirelessly in minutes — identical to an iPhone update — the term evokes unnecessary alarm and misleads the public about the actual risk and remedy.
Elon Musk has repeatedly called for exactly this change. After earlier NHTSA actions, he stated plainly: “The terminology is outdated & inaccurate. This is a tiny over-the-air software update.” On another occasion, he added that labeling OTA fixes as recalls is “anachronistic and just flat wrong.”
The terminology is outdated & inaccurate. This is a tiny over-the-air software update. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no injuries.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2022
Musk’s point is simple: regulators must evolve their vocabulary to match the technology. Traditional recalls involve physical intervention and downtime; OTA updates do not. Retaining the old label distorts consumer perception, inflates perceived defect rates, and slows the industry’s shift to faster, safer software iteration.
Tesla’s rapid, remote remedy demonstrates the safety advantage of over-the-air capability. Problems that once required weeks of dealer appointments are now resolved in hours, often before most owners notice. As more automakers adopt software-first designs, the entire regulatory framework needs to catch up.
Updating “recall” terminology would align language with reality, reduce public confusion, and recognize that modern vehicles are no longer static hardware — they are continuously improving computers on wheels.
For the 219,000 Tesla owners involved, the process is already complete. The camera works, the car is safe, and no one left their driveway. That is the new standard — and the vocabulary should reflect it.
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
Tesla crushes NHTSA’s brand-new ADAS safety tests – first vehicle to ever pass
