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SpaceX’s 2018 Crew Dragon launch debut imminent as spacecraft hardware comes together

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SpaceX’s first spaceworthy Crew Dragon spacecraft officially has a confident launch target in hand as a flood of activity has begun to complete, ship, test, and deliver multiple critical components ranging from the Dragon capsule itself to the Falcon 9 Block 5 first and second stages for that capsule’s November or December launch debut.

As of today, SpaceX has between three and four months to finish up a significant – but by no means impossible – amount of work, ranging from actual hardware completion, integration, and preflight checkouts and testing to a veritable flood of paperwork required by NASA before any Commercial Crew launch can proceed.

Paper beats rock(et)

In fact, given comments from SpaceX’s President and COO Gwynne Shotwell and CEO Elon Musk, the executives appeared to be very confident that the hardware for the first uncrewed demo mission (DM-1) and second crewed test flight (DM-2) would be ready for launch. These comments most likely group software under that hardware umbrella, meaning that Shotwell and Musk seem to be very subtly commenting on the immense bureaucratic workload required from SpaceX before NASA will permit them to launch.

Decades of experience as a military-industrial complex stalwart has readily prepared Boeing to deal with those vast ‘certification’ workloads, but that certainly doesn’t mean that NASA couldn’t find a more pragmatic and less oppressive balance between carelessness and a downright obsessive compulsion to document every molecule of their commercial providers’ hardware, software, and wetware (employees, management, organizational structure).

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Falcon 9 preps for Crew Dragon

Despite the often-onerous bureaucratic demands of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program office, SpaceX is moving rapidly ahead with a range of hardware, all critical for the Crew Dragon’s November/December launch debut. With the capsule itself already in Florida and the DM-1 Dragon’s trunk nearing shipment from Hawthorne to Cape Canaveral (currently NET September), the next and perhaps most important piece is Falcon 9 itself.

Confirmed earlier this year in a quarterly NASA Commercial Crew update, SpaceX assigned Falcon 9 Booster 1051 to Crew Dragon’s debut launch. That rocket booster and its complementary upper stage are already at SpaceX’s McGregor, TX rocket testing facility undergoing a number of acceptance tests and checkouts as of today, confirming a number of critical facts. Most importantly, the presence of integrated the B1051 booster in Texas appears to imply that SpaceX has successfully fixed slight design flaws in their Merlin 1D engines and composite-overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), even if the paperwork to officially ‘certify’ them for flight has not been completed.

 

This meshes nicely with details provided in a recent NASA Commercial Crew news post, which stated that “Falcon 9’s first and second stages for the Demo-1 [Crew Dragon] mission are targeted to ship … [to] McGregor, Texas for additional testing in August.” Ship they did and the booster may well have beaten that “August” timeframe according to photos of the facility from mid-July. When exactly that testing will wrap up in Texas is unclear but it would be reasonable to expect the rocket booster and upper stage to ship to SpaceX’s Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in Cape Canaveral within 4-6 weeks, giving the company a solid month and a half to integrate the rocket, static fire it at the pad, complete assembly of Crew Dragon, and attach the spacecraft to its Falcon 9 rocket ahead of launch.


For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet (including fairing catcher Mr Steven) check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!

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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 extends Cybertruck production slightly to handle order log

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Credit: diagnosticdennis/Instagram and @smile__no via Tesla Owners of Santa Clarita Valley/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will extend Cybertruck production slightly to handle its extensive order backlog.

On Wednesday, Musk announced that “In order to work through more of the Cybertruck order backlog, production will be extended through the end of summer 2027.”

Tesla has already attempted to simplify its last months of production for the Cybertruck by eliminating several trim levels and only offering the Cyberbeast, the most expensive trim that starts at $109,990. The other two trim levels, the Cybertruck All-Wheel-Drive and Premium All-Wheel-Drive have both been discontinued.

There has been plenty of backlash against Tesla’s decision to ax the Cybertruck, but the company’s forecast prioritizes Cybercab and autonomy. Factory space at Gigafactory Texas that is not necessary is now being set aside for the Cybercab as the company truly embraces its “transportation-as-a-service” model.

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There is still a slim chance the Cybertruck survives. Last evening, Tesla upfitter Unplugged Performance offered to take the Cybertruck line off of Tesla’s hands and continue building it, along with a CyberSUV.

Nevertheless, Tesla seems to be ending the Cybertruck on its terms after what will be a three-and-a-half-year run. It still does not really feel quite real; I think many of us thought the Cybertruck would be around for years to come. Other EV pickups on the market have experienced a similar fate.

The Ford F-150 Lightning was axed by the Detroit company due to the continued losses the company took from sales. That truck was never profitable, and Ford is still taking a quarterly loss in its EV side. However, things are moving along as it has plans for a mass market EV pickup, which will likely gather some substantial demand if Ford can get it just right.

Perhaps another extension or even a total change of heart might come. Only Musk knows.

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Tesla overtakes Waymo in Texas as Robotaxi fleet performs shock flip

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Credit: Tesla

In a sudden and closely watched milestone, Tesla Robotaxi has edged past Waymo on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles automated vehicle registry. As of November 10, Tesla lists 1,302 registered vehicles under Tesla Robotaxi, LLC, compared with Waymo’s 1,297.

The flip is narrow, but real, according to the State’s books. Tesla’s Texas fleet, following an expansion on November 10, now consists of 729 Model Ys and 573 purpose-built Cybercab vehicles. Waymo’s roster is dominated by the Jaguar I-PACE and a growing number of Zeekr-based Ojai minivans.

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Those figures come from the same public TxDMV automated vehicle listings that independent trackers have monitored since a Texas law required operators to disclose fleet sizes.

The scale of Tesla’s climb is pretty interesting and shows how much the company has grown its autonomous ride-hailing fleet over the past months. When the registry first became public in late May 2026, Tesla listed just 42 vehicles on it. Meanwhile, Waymo had several hundred vehicles registered to it.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shades Waymo: ‘Never really had a chance’

Since then, Tesla has multiplied its authorized Texas fleet more than thirty times, driven by repeated Model Y additions and a steady build of Cybercabs. Waymo has also expanded, but at a slower pace than Tesla.

It is also important to note that registrations are not necessarily equal to operational fleet. The TxDMV list shows the number of vehicles each company is permitted to run, but it does not report how many are actively carrying riders, which cities they serve, or trip volume. Both companies stage vehicles and run mixed fleets that can include units in testing or temporarily offline.

A lead on the registry therefore signals capacity and regulatory positioning more than immediate ride volume.

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Tesla has use the growing authorized fleet to expand its unsupervised service beyond the original Austin geofence area, as now it is flowing into cities like San Antonio and Dallas. The company has highlighted plans for a broader Cybercab deployment, eventually into new states and territories.

Waymo is operating across multiple Texas markets and in other areas of the United States.

Right now, the five-vehicle margin is thin and could reverse with the next large registration from either side. For the moment, however, the public Texas record shows Tesla holding the larger authorized Robotaxi fleet in the state.

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SpaceX just cleared a key FCC hurdle in its fight with Verizon and AT&T

The FCC accepted SpaceX’s bid for Grain’s 800 MHz spectrum, opening review for Starlink Mobile.

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A hand holds a smartphone displaying the Starlink Mobile app interface showing a strong “Connected – Direct to Cell” signal, with a Starlink satellite beaming connectivity signals down to Earth from orbit. The background features the planet’s night side glowing with city lights against the curve of the atmosphere, set above a scenic twilight landscape.

The Federal Communications Commission has formally opened its review of SpaceX’s plan to buy a nationwide block of 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management, moving Starlink Mobile one step closer to operating as a full U.S. wireless carrier.

In a public notice issued Tuesday, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said it accepted for filing the applications to transfer control of two Grain license companies, Prism License Co. 1 and Prism License Co. 2, to Starlink Spectrum Holdings, a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary. The deal covers 546 paired licenses across 3,224 counties, reaching roughly 100% of the U.S. population in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The proceeding sits under WT Docket No. 26-313.

Acceptance is not approval. It means the applications cleared an initial review and the public comment window is now open. Comments and petitions to deny are due December 1, and oppositions are due December 8. The bureau also said the conditions attached to Grain’s July purchase of the licenses from T-Mobile, which require rapid buildout for terrestrial and direct to device service, would carry over to SpaceX if the transfer is approved.

SpaceX announced the agreement on October 8, saying the new airwaves would let Starlink Mobile’s signal reach phones inside buildings, something its 2 GHz spectrum from EchoStar cannot do as well. The portfolio includes up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum in the 817 to 824 MHz and 862 to 869 MHz bands, which most existing phones already support. Elon Musk called it “the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”

According to the filing, SpaceX would hold up to 89 MHz of total spectrum in any given market after the deal closes, including up to 14 MHz below 1 GHz. That is far under the 385 MHz threshold the FCC uses to flag a transaction for closer competitive scrutiny, and well short of the roughly 300 MHz each of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile holds.

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Tuesday’s notice does not decide how SpaceX can use the spectrum from orbit. A separate application SpaceX filed on October 27 seeking authority to provide supplemental coverage from space on the same frequencies, along with related waiver requests, is still pending before the commission.

The ground network is already taking shape. Last week, SpaceX picked Qualcomm to supply radios, baseband units and software for a nationwide 5G build, with deployment across tens of thousands of U.S. cell sites starting in 2027. The FCC also voted on October 29 to advance a proposal opening another 482 MHz to direct to device service, though AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile hacritive pushed to strip nearly 300 MHz from it. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has said service on SpaceX’s own airwaves is targeted for early 2028.

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