News
SpaceX Inspiration4 astronauts reveal Dragon’s ‘cupola’ in the flesh
SpaceX’s first fully private astronaut crew have revealed the first real look at a unique part of the Crew Dragon spacecraft that will carry them to orbit just two weeks from now.
Known as Inspiration4, the mission is the brainchild of Shift4 CEO, founder, and billionaire Jared Isaacman and will be the first orbital astronaut launch dedicated exclusively to space tourism. Unlike the side ventures of billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, both of which cap out around 100 km (~62 mi) and Mach 3 (~1000 m/s) with vehicles that have minimal utility outside of their tourism roles, Inspiration4’s four-astronaut crew will be headed to orbit – 540 km (335 mi) at Mach 25 (>7500 m/s) – in a spacecraft designed and used to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
A step further, aside from its more symbolic role in the potential future of orbital space tourism, Inspiration4 will also check off several major technical firsts – each impressive in its own right.
First and foremost, perhaps the most unique technical aspect of Inspiration4 will be the custom-built ‘cupola’ SpaceX has replaced Crew Dragon’s docking port with. Plans for the large transparent dome were revealed in March 2021 and according to Isaacman himself, SpaceX effectively took the idea from paper concept to real-world human-rated hardware in just six months. Initially shown off in an official render, Dragon’s ‘dome’ was portrayed as a completely uninterrupted glass-like hemisphere where the spacecraft’s docking port would normally go.
As a free-flyer mission with no need to rendezvous or dock with a space station, once-flown Dragon capsule C207 had no need for that module on Inspiration4 and SpaceX seemingly agreed. Six months later, the end result is practically identical to the renders aside from four black heat shields that will protect parts of the dome from the heat of Dragon’s four most important Draco thrusters. Regardless, the dome itself still appears to be uninterrupted, almost certainly making it the largest single-piece window ever flown to space when Inspiration4 launches later this month.
Additionally, Isaacman confirmed that SpaceX has also installed a custom camera inside the retractable nosecone the dome (and normally the docking port) is cocooned inside during ascent and reentry. In just the right position, that camera should be able to take some truly spectacular photos of Dragon’s four astronauts (Jared Isaacman, cancer survivor and PA Hayley Arceneaux, science communicator Sian Proctor, and raffle-winner Christopher Sembroski) silhouetted by Earth, space, and the stars.
Aside from SpaceX’s unique cupola modification, Inspiration4’s Crew Dragon capsule is on track to once again smash the company and world’s record for orbital space capsule turnaround. Previously tasked with supporting Crew-1, SpaceX’s first operational NASA astronaut launch, Dragon capsule C207 reentered and splashed down after six months in orbit on May 2nd and is now scheduled to launch four more astronauts as early as September 15th. If all goes according to plan, C207 will thus fly twice in ~136 days, beating a 227-day turnaround record set just weeks prior by 91 days (41%).
Meanwhile, SpaceX has also assigned Falcon 9 booster B1062 to launch Inspiration4, making the mission the first time a twice-flown Falcon booster launches astronauts. All told, it’s hard to imagine a better way to effectively ring in a new era of true space tourism. Stay tuned for updates as Inspiration4 tracks towards liftoff around Wednesday morning, September 15th.
Tesla has expanded its branded ‘For Business’ Supercharger program that it launched last year, as yet another company is using the platform to attract EV owners to its business and utilize a unique advertising opportunity.
Francis Energy of Oklahoma is launching four Superchargers in Norman, where the University of Oklahoma is located. The Superchargers, which are fitted with branding for Francis Energy, will officially open tomorrow.
It will not be the final Supercharger location that Francis Energy plans to open, the company confirmed to EVWire.
Back in early September, Tesla launched the new “Supercharger for Business” program in an effort to give businesses the ability to offer EV charging at custom rates. It would give their businesses visibility and would also cater to employees or customers.
“Purchase and install Superchargers at your business,” Tesla wrote on a page on its website for the new program. “Superchargers are compatible with all electric vehicles, bringing EV drivers to your business by offering convenient, reliable charging.”
The first site opened in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, which is Northeast of Tampa, as a company called Suncoast launched the Superchargers for local EV owners.
Tesla launches its new branded Supercharger for Business with first active station
The program also does a great job at expanding infrastructure for EV owners, which is something that needs to be done to encourage more people to purchase Teslas and other electric cars.
Francis Energy operates at least 14 EV charging locations in Oklahoma, spanning from Durant to Oklahoma City and nearly everywhere in between. Filings from the company, listed by Supercharge.info, show the company’s plans to convert some of them to Tesla Superchargers, potentially utilizing the new Supercharger for Business program to advertise.
Moving forward, more companies will likely utilize Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program as it presents major advantages in a variety of ways, especially with advertising and creating a place for EV drivers to gain range in their cars.
Tesla Cybercab is perhaps the most highly-anticipated project that the company plans to roll out this year, and as it is undergoing its testing phase in pre-production currently, there are some things to work through with it.
Over the weekend, an image of the Cybercab being loaded onto a tow truck started circulating on the internet, and people began to speculate as to what the issue could be.
Hmmmmmm… https://t.co/L5hWcOXQkb pic.twitter.com/OJBDyHNTMj
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 11, 2026
The Cybercab can clearly be seen with a Police Officer and perhaps the tow truck driver by its side, being loaded onto, or even potentially unloaded from, the truck.
However, it seems unlikely it was being offloaded, as its operation would get it to this point for testing to begin with.
It appears, at first glance, that it needs assistance getting back to wherever it came from; likely Gigafactory Texas or potentially a Bay Area facility.
The Cybercab was also spotted in Buffalo, New York, last week, potentially undergoing cold-weather testing, but it doesn’t appear that’s where this incident took place.
It is important to remember that the Cybercab is currently undergoing some rigorous testing scenarios, which include range tests and routine public road operation. These things help Tesla assess any potential issue the vehicle could run into after it starts routine production and heads to customers, or for the Robotaxi platform operation.
This is not a one-off issue, either. Tesla had some instances with the Semi where it was seen broken down on the side of a highway three years ago. The all-electric Semi has gone on to be successful in its early pilot program, as companies like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo. have had very positive remarks.
The Cybercab’s future is bright, and it is important to note that no vehicle model has ever gone its full life without a breakdown. It happens, it’s a car.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that there has been no official word on what happened with this particular Cybercab unit, but it is crucial to remember that this is the pre-production testing phase, and these things are more constructive than anything.
Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco of Morgan Stanley teased the company’s dominance in its self-driving initiative, stating that its lead over competitors is “not even close.”
Percoco recently overtook coverage of Tesla stock from Adam Jonas, who had covered the company at Morgan Stanley for years. Percoco is handling Tesla now that Jonas is covering embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.
His first move after grabbing coverage was to adjust the price target from $410 to $425, as well as the rating from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’
Percoco’s new note regarding Tesla highlights the company’s extensive lead in self-driving and autonomy projects, something that it has plenty of competition in, but has established its prowess over the past few years.
He writes:
“It’s not even close. Tesla continues to lead in autonomous driving, even as Nvidia rolls out new technology aimed at helping other automakers build driverless systems.”
Percoco’s main point regarding Tesla’s advantage is the company’s ability to collect large amounts of training data through its massive fleet, as millions of cars are driving throughout the world and gathering millions of miles of vehicle behavior on the road.
This is the main point that Percoco makes regarding Tesla’s lead in the entire autonomy sector: data is King, and Tesla has the most of it.
One big story that has hit the news over the past week is that of NVIDIA and its own self-driving suite, called Alpamayo. NVIDIA launched this open-source AI program last week, but it differs from Tesla’s in a significant fashion, especially from a hardware perspective, as it plans to use a combination of LiDAR, Radar, and Vision (Cameras) to operate.
Percoco said that NVIDIA’s announcement does not impact Morgan Stanley’s long-term opinions on Tesla and its strength or prowess in self-driving.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
And, for what it’s worth, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even said some remarkable things about Tesla following the launch of Alpamayo:
“I think the Tesla stack is the most advanced autonomous vehicle stack in the world. I’m fairly certain they were already using end-to-end AI. Whether their AI did reasoning or not is somewhat secondary to that first part.”
Percoco reiterated both the $425 price target and the ‘Equal Weight’ rating on Tesla shares.
Tesla expands its branded ‘For Business’ Superchargers
Tesla Cybercab ‘breakdown’ image likely is not what it seems
