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SpaceX Crew Dragon tests SuperDraco rocket engines in new slow-mo video

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken watch on-console as SpaceX mission control prepares to static fire a Crew Dragon capsule on November 13th. (SpaceX)

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7 years ago

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SpaceX has released a rare video from one of its slow-motion engineering cameras, showing off a Crew Dragon capsule performing a static fire test of its eight SuperDraco rocket engines. With this test now complete, SpaceX and NASA can focus on determining when the same Dragon will be ready to fly a crucial abort test.

After a week or two of delays, on November 13th, SpaceX successfully fired up Crew Dragon capsule C205’s eight SuperDraco abort engines and two Draco maneuvering thrusters in a ground simulation of a flight test planned for the same capsule. Crew Dragon’s eight SuperDraco thrusters are capable of producing a combined thrust of more than 130,000 lbf (570 kN), almost as much thrust as an original SpaceX Merlin 1D engine used on Falcon 9s in the early 2010s.

Pictured here, flight-proven Crew Dragon capsule C201 exploded during the same test in April 2019. (SpaceX)

November 13th’s static fire was required only after Crew Dragon C201 catastrophically exploded just prior to an almost identical test on April 20th, 2019. The historic spacecraft had completed its first orbital launch, ISS rendezvous, docking, reentry, and splashdown less than six weeks prior to that attempted static fire. Although it performed to perfection during that uncrewed Demo-1 spaceflight, it apparently carried an unknown design flaw during that flawless launch.

That flaw became apparent after the spacecraft exploded around 10 seconds prior to a planned static fire of its SuperDraco engines, a test meant to verify vehicle health before SpaceX planned to launch the capsule again to support its In-Flight Abort (IFA). According to a joint SpaceX-NASA investigation, the source of that failure was the flawed decision to use titanium in a pressurized liquid nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) environment, a choice that ultimately resulted in an exotic titanium fire and violent explosion.

Crew Dragon capsule C205 is pictured here on its static fire stand, located directly beside SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Landing Zones. (SpaceX)

SpaceX decided to prevent the issue from recurring by replacing the actuating, titanium check valves with single-use burst disks, meaning that Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco engines will now only be capable of a single ignition each. That limitation is no longer relevant after SpaceX chose years ago to end work on propulsively landing Dragon spacecraft (a la Falcon boosters), thus presumably making burst disks the simplest, cheapest, and fastest change for SpaceX and NASA to re-certify.

Thanks to the speed with which SpaceX was able to respond to Crew Dragon’s April 2019 explosion, the company was able to shuffle its fleet of in-process spacecraft, reassign capsule C205 to Dragon’s IFA test, modify the vehicle to account for necessary changes, ship it to Florida, and static-fire the completed spacecraft a little over six months later. With that static fire test now fully complete and NASA and SpaceX deep into the process of carefully inspecting capsule C205 and poring over the data produced, it’s finally reasonable to start thinking seriously about Crew Dragon’s next flight milestone.

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On November 13th, SpaceX successfully static fired Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco engines in anticipation of a critical In-Flight Abort (IFA) test. (SpaceX)

Known as the spacecraft’s In-Flight Abort (IFA) test, that milestone will see capsule C205 launch atop a Falcon 9 booster and upper stage and attempt to escape the rocket after reaching supersonic speeds. That point of maximum aerodynamic and thermal stress during launch – known as Max Q – is one of the most challenging abort scenarios Crew Dragon could face. If C205 is able to successfully perform that in-flight abort, it will verify that the spacecraft is capable of carrying its astronauts to safety at almost any point in flight, from the launch pad all the way to Earth orbit.

NASA and SpaceX will likely announce the IFA launch date within the next week or two and odds remain good that Crew Dragon will be able to fly again before the end of 2019.

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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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Investor's Corner

Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

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4 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Lucid

Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.

Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”

Twork said:

Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.

Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.

Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.

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Tesla owner attempts resale of Model S Signature Edition for over $260k

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8 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla owner who purchased a Model S Signature Edition, one of the final 250 units of the all-electric flagship vehicle that the company discontinued earlier this year, is attempting to sell the car despite a no-resale clause that prohibits reselling for the first year.

The car is being sold by J&S Autohaus in Ewing, New Jersey, and is priced at $260,490, well above the $159,420 that Tesla sold it for earlier this year.

To those who do not know, the Model S Signature was a highly exclusive, limited-run farewell variant of the Model S Plaid that was produced this year to mark the end of production of both the Model S and Model X, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles.

Limited to just 250 units with invite-only sales, it serves as a collector’s item celebrating the legacy of the Model S, which helped pioneer Tesla’s electric vehicle success since its 2012 launch.

It bundles top-tier performance with bespoke cosmetic and luxury upgrades, plus Tesla’s Luxe Package. Here’s what the Model S Signature has over the typical Model S Plaid:

  • Exclusive Exterior – Unique Garnet Red Paint, matching door handles, gold Tesla “T” badges upfront, gold Plaid and Signature badging at the rear.
  • Premium Interior – White Alcantara upholstery with gold piping/accents, gold Plaid seat badges, Signature-marked door sills, individually numbered dashboard plaque, gold puddle lights, special interior lighting sequence, and a custom Signature key fob.
  • Performance Upgrades – Carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers
  • Bundled Luxe Package – Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Connectivity, free lifetime Supercharging
  • Performance Metrics – ~1,020 horsepower, sub-2-second 0-60 MPH, ~390-mile range

Tesla quickly introduced a No Resale Agreement for the Signature Editions of the Model S and Model X, which would penalize the seller for “the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”

The company continues:

“If you sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of your Model S or Model X, the remainder of the Recommended Maintenance, Wheel and Tire Protection Plan, and Windshield Protection Plan will transfer automatically to the buyer. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once the ownership of the Model S or Model X is transferred.”

Tesla will likely come after the seller, especially as it has been about two months since Tesla launched deliveries.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Early Impressions: new features and early performance

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11 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla rolled out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.5 yesterday, and about fifty miles of driving on the new version has given me enough time to highlight what seems to be strong about the release and what is not.

Additionally, Tesla has added a few new features with this specific update, which we’ll highlight as well.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Performance

The new update is business as usual. Things seem to be running completely normal and necessary, but there are a few things that we’ve seemed to pick up on based on our own experience with v14.3.5, as well as what other users are seeing.

Initially, it seems to be more aware of its surroundings, making moves that are incredibly courteous to other drives and operating just a tad more reserved than what the suite might have done previously.

We had two instances where it showed this, the first being FSD needing to pass a Flagger Force vehicle that was placing down signage for the day. Their work truck was right at the front corner of a right-hand turn; typically where most cars travel when they take that turn.

FSD v14.3.5 recognized this, slowed down, and took the turn wide with no issues:

Additionally, v14.3.5 backed up for a semi truck that was making a wide turn onto a road my car was on. This is not new, but it seemed to be backing up for courtesy; it didn’t seem completely necessary, but it might have put some peace of mind in the truck driver’s head:

X user Mike P, also a Pennsylvania native like myself, shared three clips of his Tesla running v14.3.5 performing similar maneuvers. He said:

“FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.”
Check it out here:

It seems like Speed Profiles are still in need of some tweaking; I am adjusting what Speed Profile I’m in frequently, constantly changing it to get it to travel at the correct speed. This was an issue for me on v14.3.4. It seems like they’re just a little inconsistent.

Terrible Parking

Parking attempts on v14.3.5 were not good. There are quite a few people who have said this:

David Moss, the Tesla owner who has taken multiple coast-to-coast drives without any interventions, also has had some issues with parking early on with v14.3.5:

New Features

Tesla has added the ability to open Camera Preview at any time. Previously, it was only available in Park. Here’s what that feature looks like in action:

Check back later this week for a longer review of what we’ve noticed on Full Self-Driving v14.3.5.

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