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SpaceX teases Crew Dragon capsule and spacesuit details in new video
Over the past few weeks, conference presentations given by SpaceX employees like Joy Dunn and Paul Wooster have kicked off with an updated intro reel including unseen slow-motion footage of Falcon Heavy and detailed looks at the company’s spacesuit and Crew Dragon capsule.
Those in the habit of catching SpaceX launches live will be readily familiar with the company’s intro reel – it’s marked the start of live coverage for nearly every webcast in the past three or more years. The current intro reel has remained more or less unchanged since the first successful Falcon 9 booster recovery in December 2015, and this updated intro reel will be a breath of fresh air for what is still admittedly an amazing video. Still, it’s hard to say “no” to slow-motion footage of Falcon Heavy.
Most recently shown at an MIT Media Lab conference during SpaceX Principal Mars Development Engineer Paul Wooster’s presentation, the new reel has – somewhat unsurprisingly – been built around the incredibly successful inaugural Falcon Heavy launch, as well as some more recent footage of the company’s Cargo Dragon docking with the International Space Station. Additional clips show what appears to be details of the finalized Crew Dragon – set to debut in late 2018 – and a closeup of SpaceX’s internally-designed spacesuit. Sticking out as the only truly unusual snippet, the end of the new reel features parts of the animation SpaceX released in 2016 during the debut of their Mars rocket, the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), which has since been replaced with the similar but different BFR.
While entirely possible that the inclusion of ITS footage in an intro reel clearly updated since 2018 is intentional, it seems more likely that SpaceX has yet to publicize this new video partially because they don’t yet have a similar animation featuring their updated Mars rocket and spaceship. CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments on the encouraging progress being made with the design and construction of the first BFR prototype suggests that such an updated animation could be just around the corner, if not full-up teaser photos of the construction progress. Set to begin suborbital hop testing as early as the first half of 2019 and orbital launches by end of 2020, SpaceX’s Mars ambitions may still feel far away, but the tech that could make them real is already undergoing preliminary construction and testing.
Sooner still is SpaceX’s upcoming debut of Crew Dragon, the spacecraft that will eventually both carry astronauts to the ISS and later replace Cargo Dragon. Initially intended to land near the launch pad on legs, akin to Falcon 9, SpaceX has since canceled that work, largely due to numerous delays that would have almost certainly been incurred in the process of NASA certification of such a new and unproven technology. Instead, Musk made it clear that SpaceX would instead put its time, energy, and money into the development of BFR and BFS, sidestepping NASA’s sometimes-smothering and counterproductive paternalism for the time being.
Crew Dragon will instead be recovered after landing in the ocean, a disappointing concession that is at least partially cushioned by SpaceX’s recent successes and growing expertise with the reuse of their similarly sea-recovered Cargo Dragons. While ocean-recovery certainly won’t lend itself to ease of reuse quite as readily as powered landings, SpaceX will likely be able to significantly drop the cost of Crew Dragon launches in the future by efficiently refurbishing each recovered capsule. Less likely but still a possibility, the company could adopt something similar to the fairing-catcher Mr Steven – essentially a giant net aboard a highly-maneuverable boat – to recover Crew Dragon without submerging the spacecraft in saltwater. As of March 2018, at least according to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center director, SpaceX is still on track to conduct its first uncrewed launch of Crew Dragon as early as August 2018, with the first crewed mission following in December 2018 if all goes well.
- ITS was much wider and taller than the updated BFR, making it considerably easier to develop. (SpaceX)
- BFR’s booster and spaceship, tiny human for scale. (SpaceX)
- Astronaut Bob Behnken emerges from the hatch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in manufacturing at SpaceX’s headquarters and factory in Hawthorne, CA. (SpaceX)
SpaceX’s spacesuit is a critical component of their crewed spaceflight efforts, and has been designed and built in-house to ensure that astronauts can survive the emergency depressurization of a Crew Dragon capsule, evidenced by Musk’s recent suggestions that senior suit engineers successfully survived stints in a vacuum chamber while wearing it. Thanks to the staggering success of Falcon Heavy and its iconic Starman and Tesla Roadster payload, SpaceX’s spacesuit will undoubtedly be a badge of honor for all future astronauts who fly aboard Crew Dragon.

Starman gives one final farewell to Earth as he departs for deep space aboard Musk’s Tesla Roadster. (SpaceX)
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Trump are closer than ever, and Tesla could be the big winner
Elon Musk sat beside Trump as AI leaders signed a voluntary White House safety accord.
Elon Musk had the seat right next to President Donald Trump on Tuesday as the White House hosted the leaders of America’s biggest artificial intelligence companies for a lunch that ended with a voluntary industry accord on AI safety.
A seating chart Trump posted on Truth Social placed Musk at the president’s left in the East Room, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on his right, according to an Associated Press reporter. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also attended, along with Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
🚨 Elon Musk is currently speaking to the media alongside President Trump after a meeting with AI Leaders in Washington today
Trump says AI is now being called “Super Intelligence” or SI pic.twitter.com/woJJqUVP9B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
After the lunch, Trump told reporters outside the West Wing that the executives had signed “The White House Accord on Superintelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities.” Johnson described it as a voluntary statement of principles built on “robust internal controls and layers of internal and external review,” while Zuckerberg said company boards would independently review reports from outside auditors. Trump called the document “morally binding,” said he would name a new AI czar within days, and signed an executive order formally renaming artificial intelligence “super intelligence,” CNBC reported.
Musk was not in the room for Tesla alone. Since SpaceX absorbed xAI, he runs the company behind Grok and one of the largest AI training operations anywhere. On September 25, he said another 220,000 Nvidia GB300 chips would come online at Colossus 2 within a week, with more expected in November and December.
“I think it is worth highlighting the positive benefits of A.I. … S.I., pardon me.”
“Thank you.”@elonmusk catches his own slip after calling the technology “A.I.” while speaking alongside President Trump and other tech leaders, quickly correcting himself to “super… pic.twitter.com/fH7CFileNb
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 29, 2026
SpaceX confirms third massive compute deal at Colossus data center
Musk also used the trip to restate his energy ambitions. “SpaceX is aiming together with Tesla to do 200 gigawatts of solar production per year,” he said at an event in Washington. It is the same combined target he laid out that feeds directly into Terafab, the Tesla and SpaceX chip venture that will need enormous amounts of power.
The showing between Musk and Trump has come a long way, since the two had the very public split in mid 2025 after Musk opposed the “Big Beautiful Bill” and left DOGE. They reconciled at Charlie Kirk’s memorial that September, and Trump later called their relationship “good”. Since then, Musk has joined Trump’s China delegation in May and attended last week’s White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For Tesla, that access to government official could pay dividends. As Teslarati noted in January, federal autonomy rules, NHTSA oversight and a single national standard for driverless vehicles all run through an administration Musk can more easily reach directly as Tesla works to scale Robotaxi and Cybercab beyond Texas.
Elon Musk
Tesla Roadster’s new patent preps white-knuckle speeds, keeping it grounded
Ahead of its highly anticipated unveiling, Tesla’s upcoming Roadster received a new patent that aims to keep it grounded while enabling white-knuckle speeds.
The patent, which was granted on September 29, is titled “Electric Car Fan,” bluntly stating its design but not its purpose, which is further detailed in the text of the application. Interestingly, it comes two weeks before the Roadster event, which was delayed due to unfavorable weather on Thursday, which could cause issues, as Tesla revealed the event must be held outdoors.
🚨 The design uses electrically driven ducted fans, typically shown as a row of four at the rear, powered by the vehicle’s high-voltage battery.
The fans pull air from an underbody inlet, route it through ducts, and expel it from a larger rear outlet that functions as a… https://t.co/CHQB9u9UA3 pic.twitter.com/QVXmWTdggh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
The purpose is to solve a problem that is relatively unique to high-performance electric cars. Instant motor torque is useless if the tires cannot plant that force, and conventional wings and underbody tunnels generate downforce only when air is already rushing past the car. At launch, in slow corners, and under hard braking from modest speed, passive aerodynamic additions contribute essentially very little to downforce.
Tesla’s filing says that its fans can produce the downforce needed, independent of vehicle velocity, then ease off so the same hardware does not pile on drag at highway speeds, an issue that can come from excessive body modifications.
The hardware outlined in the patent is a ducted-fan package that is placed into the rear of the vehicle. An underbody inlet between the rear wheels feeds a duct that rises to a wide outlet in the diffuser. In that outlet are four axial fans, which are divided by vertical strakes. They will pull air from under the floor and press the chassis onto the pavement.
The language in the patent claims it can cut drag rather than add to it while simultaneously increasing downforce.
Tesla Roadster event requires restricted airspace, and the FAA obliges
The fans run from the high-voltage battery and a vehicle control system, so output can be modulated rather than left on as a fixed penalty.
There are additional strengths that can come from this design, like extra tire load at low speed, which can contribute to even more face-melting acceleration rates, decrease stopping distance, and sharper turn-in before a wing has air to work with. Adjustable fan speed lets the car add grip only when needed, so it can be catered to the force of a turn or acceleration.
These designs were previously used, and banned, in some competitive settings. The Brabham BT46B was banned in F1 competition for using a similar fan design and being labeled as too effective.
Tesla still lists the Roadster as having a sub-two-second 0-60 MPH time and a 250-plus-MPH top speed, and there are expectations for a SpaceX cold-gas thruster package that could not only increase acceleration but potentially cause the vehicle to hover.
It is important to note that a patent is not a production part, and packaging four fans in a rear diffuser, managing noise, and potential debris are all things Tesla must consider. With that being said, the patent being granted shows Tesla is designing the Roadster to go fast, but it is also attempting to use unique strategies to combat any issues it might have at those speeds.
Investor's Corner
Tesla showrooms picked clean ahead of Q3 end as demand looks strong
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) showrooms have been picked clean ahead of the end of the third quarter of the year, as demand looks to be strong and delivery estimates for new vehicles are pushed into late 2026 and early 2027.
Tesla appears to have sold out of many of its Model 3 and Model Y trim levels in the United States, as only the Model Y RWD and Model Y All-Wheel-Drive are available for delivery before the end of the year.
Additionally, many showrooms are either completely empty or void of all but just one demo unit within the buildings themselves in an effort to bolster what could be one of Tesla’s best quarters in vehicle deliveries in recent memory.
I’m at Tesla right now and when I walked into their showroom I was shocked to see it basically empty.
I asked one of the people working there where all of the cars are “Gone – it’s the end of the quarter and we’ve sold out of everything… including the display vehicles”So… pic.twitter.com/rN7s3gE6sJ
— Devin Olsen (@DevinOlsenn) September 25, 2026
All the cars are gone from Tesla Century City!
All they have is Model Y L, a self-driving video playing on the background. I guess the best product is no product. Either that or they just sold the showroom cars. pic.twitter.com/mzCjWaXwww
— Whole Mars Catalog (@wholemars) September 26, 2026
Show room is empty. I asked and they have sold the demo cars too. Delivery numbers better be outstanding! pic.twitter.com/jq5N28Q6tZ
— Electric Brawl (@3lectricBrawl) September 22, 2026
Additionally, when I spoke to the guys at Tesla Mechanicsburg two weeks ago, when I returned the Model Y L, their third hauler of the week had just arrived, and every vehicle on it, along with every vehicle in their delivery lot, was accounted for and had a name attached to it for delivery.
Talking to the guys at the Mechanicsburg showroom on Friday, they couldn’t believe they had ANOTHER hauler coming in of cars for delivery—and each was accounted for
No car just sitting in inventory. They’re expecting a BIG quarter, and this is more than just the Y L https://t.co/ce801GkKVv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
Tesla saw a 25 percent increase in deliveries in Q2 compared to the same quarter the year before. The vast majority of the 480,126 units it delivered, 467,762 vehicles to be exact, were the Model 3 and Model Y.
In Q3 2025, Tesla delivered 497,099 vehicles, once again a figure that was dominated by the company’s two mass-market vehicles. Analysts have unusually wide predictions for this quarter, likely because so many firms missed the Q2 delivery figure by such a substantial margin; Wall Street predicted 408,000 cars, while Tesla delivered 480,000.
Goldman Sachs has Tesla slotted for 435,000 deliveries in Q3, while JPMorgan said it anticipates 482,000. The median guess is about 449,000 deliveries for Q3.
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