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SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft recovery ship gets a helipad prior to launch debut
SpaceX’s primary Crew Dragon recovery vessel GO Searcher is undergoing a number of modifications in preparation for inaugural demonstrations flights of the company’s first human-rated spacecraft.
Most notably, GO Searcher is being fitted with a helipad that will be used to rapidly transfer astronauts from Crew Dragon to Cape Canaveral, where they will go through a number of medical evaluations and debriefings after a six-month stay in orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
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- GO Searcher’s new helipad has been rapidly constructed over the last two months. (Tom Cross – 08/12/18)
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- A construction worker helps provide a sense of scale for the new pad. (Tom Cross – 08/12/18)
Over the last year or so, the long-time member of SpaceX’s East Coast rocket recovery fleet has been gradually receiving upgrades and conducting sea trials and mockup Dragon recovery tests, performed in concert with the US Air Force and NASA. Once Commercial Crew missions start launching in earnest, GO Searcher will be SpaceX’s sole Crew Dragon spacecraft and astronaut recovery vessel, a new mission that required a number of visible modifications.
Three of those upgrades are especially obvious. First, a large helipad (pictured above) is being constructed on GO Searcher’s deck. That helipad is a critical addition that will enable the rapid transport of astronauts, recovery experts, technicians, doctors, and more (perhaps even press) to or from the ship, which will be at most a few hundred kilometers east of the Florida Coast during Dragon recovery operations, and likely closer to a few tens of kilometers.
.@SpaceX's East Coast #Dragon space capsule recovery vessel, GO Searcher, has finally reemerged after being off-grid past 10-days. Appears to be sporting new hardware. #SpaceXArmada #CrewedDragon 📷: St John's Ship Yard, Palatka FL pic.twitter.com/CPR3P6DoWB
— Cowboy Dan (@CowboyDanPaasch) July 4, 2018
The next most obvious change to GO Searcher is a massive dome, likely dedicated to radar, Crew Dragon communications, or both. That dome and communications/radar array were installed over a several-week maintenance period spent at an East Coast drydocks facility, wrapping up with an early-July return to SpaceX’s Port Canaveral dock space.
Last but not least is the large metal structure at GO Searcher’s rear, a custom-built hydraulic lift designed specifically to lift Crew Dragon onto the recovery vessel’s deck. SpaceX has been extensively testing Dragon recovery operations with that particular rig throughout 2018, working with Commerical Crew astronauts, US Air Force representatives, and NASA officials to ensure that the orchestration of those Dragon and crew recovery operations are down to reflex by the time technicians are called upon to perform the same tasks with real humans and hardware.
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- SpaceX has rolled its completed Crew Dragon Access Arm into position and is just days away from installing the sleek arm. 08/16/18 (Tom Cross)
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- SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule C203 – then assigned DM-2 – is seen here in August 2018. (Pauline Acalin)
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- The first spaceworthy Crew Dragon capsule is already in Florida, preparing for its November 2018 launch debut. The same capsule will be refurbished and reflown as few as three months after recovery. (SpaceX)
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- On February 28, SpaceX completed a demonstration of their ability to recover the crew and capsule after a nominal water splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Florida. (SpaceX)
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- Dragon recovery technicians wrap up a busy day of demonstrations aboard GO Searcher, March 2018. (SpaceX)
SpaceX’s first uncrewed demonstration launch of Crew Dragon is scheduled for no earlier than November 2018, a date President and COO Gwynne Shotwell expressed considerable confidence in earlier this month. That spacecraft may end up landing on a giant inflatable cushion in order to ease refurbishment, as the same capsule will be reflown just a few months later for SpaceX’s in-flight abort test, designed to ensure that astronauts can be safely pulled away from a failing rocket at all points during launch.
Pending a successful uncrewed demo and in-flight abort test, SpaceX could become the first private company in history to launch humans into Earth orbit as early as April 2019.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.
Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.
However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.
He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:
Wow just wow!
It’s 8:30PM, 29° out ice storm hailing & Tesla Robotaxi service has turned back on!
Waymo is offline & vast majority of humans are home in the storm
Ride 38 was still supervised but by far most impressive yet pic.twitter.com/1aUnJkcYm8
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) January 25, 2026
Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”
This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.
However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.
Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.
Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”
FSD now shows a new message when approaching an international border crossing.
Stayed engaged the whole way as we crossed the border and worked great in Mexico! pic.twitter.com/bDzyLnyq0g
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) January 26, 2026
Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.
This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.
Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.
This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.
Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.
Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches
Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship V3 gets launch date update from Elon Musk
The first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.
Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX’s next Starship launch, Flight 12, is expected in about six weeks. This suggests that the first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.
In a post on X, Elon Musk stated that the next Starship launch is in six weeks. He accompanied his announcement with a photo that seemed to have been taken when Starship’s upper stage was just about to separate from the Super Heavy Booster. Musk did not state whether SpaceX will attempt to catch the Super Heavy Booster during the upcoming flight.
The upcoming flight will mark the debut of Starship V3. The upgraded design includes the new Raptor V3 engine, which is expected to have nearly twice the thrust of the original Raptor 1, at a fraction of the cost and with significantly reduced weight. The Starship V3 platform is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability.
The Starship V3 Flight 12 launch timeline comes as SpaceX pursues an aggressive development cadence for the fully reusable launch system. Previous iterations of Starship have racked up a mixed but notable string of test flights, including multiple integrated flight tests in 2025.
Interestingly enough, SpaceX has teased an aggressive timeframe for Starship V3’s first flight. Way back in late November, SpaceX noted on X that it will be aiming to launch Starship V3’s maiden flight in the first quarter of 2026. This was despite setbacks like a structural anomaly on the first V3 booster during ground testing.
“Starship’s twelfth flight test remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026,” the company wrote in its post on X.
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult
Tesla gives its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent
