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SpaceX recovers second upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft for future reuse
Four days after reentering Earth’s atmosphere and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX has safely returned its second upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft to dry land back Florida’s East Coast.
On Thursday, July 8th, the uncrewed SpaceX spacecraft officially undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) after more than a month in orbit. When the Cargo Dragon 2 vehicle lifted off on Falcon 9 last month, it was carrying more than 3.3 metric tons (~7300 lb) of food, water, science experiments, and space station hardware – an all-time record for SpaceX and Dragon. When the same spacecraft returned to Earth 36 days later, it splashed down with more than two metric tons (4400 lb) of cargo in tow.
Nine years after Dragon became the first privately-developed spacecraft ever to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station, it remains the only spacecraft in the world capable of returning significant cargo from orbit, making Dragon truly invaluable.
Over the course of 25 successful orbital Dragon launches and recoveries, SpaceX has used the vast majority of that exclusive capability to safely return approximately 40 metric tons (~90,000 lb) of crucial science experiments, hardware, and more from the space station to Earth.
Derived from the Dragon capsule’s inherent recoverability, that unique ability to return cargo from orbit has also translated into SpaceX becoming the only entity on Earth regularly reusing orbital spacecraft – second only to NASA and the Space Shuttle. While Dragon is far from the Space Shuttle’s record average of more than two dozen missions per orbiter, SpaceX has reused Dragon capsules ten times and flown capsules on three orbital missions in three separate instances.
Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon 2 build off of that not-insignificant foundation with several iterative improvements, resulting in spacecraft that are far easier and faster to turn around and nominally capable of at least five orbital flights each. Unlike Dragon 1, NASA has also been onboard with Dragon 2 reuse from the start, meaning that SpaceX won’t have to wait years to start reusing its fleet of orbital spacecraft.
In fact, SpaceX has already used a Dragon 2 spacecraft, launching two separate groups of astronauts with Crew Dragon capsule C206 in March 2020 and April 2021. Aside from representing the first time in history that space capsule has flown crew twice, capsule C206 also broke SpaceX’s Dragon turnaround record. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s next Dragon mission – CRS-23 – will mark SpaceX’s first reuse of a Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft, flying the same capsule just seven months after its first recovery.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck, and nobody noticed. But to be fair, nobody could have, but it was revealed by the program’s lead engineer that it was aimed toward simplifying manufacturing through a minor change in casting.
After the Cybertruck was given a Top Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for its reputation as the safest pickup on the market, some wondered what had changed about the vehicle.
Tesla makes changes to its vehicles routinely through Over-the-Air software updates, but aesthetic changes are relatively rare. Vehicles go through refreshes every few years, as the Model 3 and Model Y did earlier this year. However, the Cybertruck is one of the vehicles that has not changed much since its launch in late 2023, but it has gone through some minor changes.
Most recently, Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck program’s Lead Engineer, stated that the company had made a minor change to the casting of the all-electric pickup for manufacturing purposes. This change took place in April:
We made a minor change on the casting for manufacturability in April. Our Internal testing shows no difference in crash result but IIHS only officially tested the latest version
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 17, 2025
The change is among the most subtle that can be made, but it makes a massive difference in manufacturing efficiency, build quality, and scalability.
Morrill revealed Tesla’s internal testing showed no difference in crash testing results performed by the IIHS.
The 2025 Cybertruck received stellar ratings in each of the required testing scenarios and categories. The Top Safety Pick+ award is only given if it excels in rigorous crash tests. This requires ‘Good’ ratings in updated small and moderate overlap front, side, roof, and head restraints.
Additionally, it must have advanced front crash prevention in both day and night. Most importantly, the vehicle must have a ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable’ headlights standard on all trims, with the “+ ” specifically demanding the toughest new updated moderate overlap test that checks rear-seat passenger protection alongside driver safety.
Tesla has entered an interesting situation with its Full Self-Driving suite in California, as the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles had adopted an order for a suspension of the company’s sales license, but it immediately put it on hold.
The company has been granted a reprieve as the DMV is giving Tesla an opportunity to “remedy the situation.” After the suspension was recommended for 30 days as a penalty, the DMV said it would give Tesla 90 days to allow the company to come into compliance.
The DMV is accusing Tesla of misleading consumers by using words like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving on its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) features.
The State’s DMV Director, Steve Gordon, said that he hoped “Tesla will find a way to get these misleading statements corrected.” However, Tesla responded to the story on Tuesday, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order for the company using the term Autopilot.
It said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.” It added that “sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
Tesla has used the terms Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but has added the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite, hoping to remedy some of the potential issues that regulators in various areas might have with the labeling of the program.
It might not be too long before Tesla stops catching flak for using the Full Self-Driving name to describe its platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi suite has continued to improve, and this week, vehicles were spotted in Austin without any occupants. CEO Elon Musk would later confirm that Tesla had started testing driverless rides in Austin, hoping to launch rides without any supervision by the end of the year.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck and nobody noticed
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
