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SpaceX rocket sails into California port after interplanetary launch

Pictured here during its first East Coast recovery, Falcon 9 B1063 has sailed into a California port for the first time. (Richard Angle)

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The first SpaceX Falcon 9 booster to help launch a payload directly into interplanetary space has safely arrived at a California port.

On November 24th, Falcon 9 B1063 lifted off from SpaceX’s West Coast SLC-4E launch site for the second time in about a year, successfully sending an expendable upper stage and NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on their way to interplanetary space. Aside from marking the first time SpaceX has sent a paying customer’s functional spacecraft beyond the gravity ‘well’ of the Earth-Moon system, SpaceX did so with a flight-proven Falcon booster – a first for NASA’s Launch Service Program (LSP).

For Falcon 9 B1063, it was also the first time the booster performed a landing and recovery in the Pacific Ocean, touching down on recently-relocated drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) about 650 km (~400 mi) southeast of the central California coast.

Towed behind tug Scorpius, Falcon 9 B1063 sailed into Port of Long Beach (adjacent to Port of Los Angeles) on drone ship OCISLY a brisk two and a half days after touchdown. SpaceX’s oldest and most storied drone ship, OCISLY supported 52 Falcon booster recovery attempts off the East Coast (45 successful) before the company chose to transfer the vessel to its West Coast recovery fleet. In its relatively old age, OCISLY is underpowered and relatively finicky to operate and maintain in comparison to newer ships Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) and A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG). That makes it a perfect fit for SpaceX’s California launch facilities, which are also relatively old and only capable of supporting one Falcon launch per month.

In comparison, JRTI and ASOG are designed to support at least one or two Falcon booster landings every two weeks, while SpaceX’s more modern LC-39A and LC-40 Florida pads have both supported two back-to-back Falcon 9 launches in ten days or less. On the other hand, SLC-4E’s record turnaround is 36 days – almost four times slower – and SpaceX’s best-case goal for the recently reactivated pad is to average one West Coast launch per month. Perhaps due to Starlink production shortages and/or issues with the new V1.5 satellite design, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that SpaceX will be able to get close to that pace in 2021.

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https://twitter.com/matt_dahle/status/1464736462159552512
Falcon 9 B1063 prepares to roll out for its third launch. In the background, an entire second Falcon 9 rocket is visible. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

There are still some reasons for optimism, though. Even if SpaceX were to ‘merely’ tie its previous 36-day Vandenberg turnaround record, that would technically preserve the possibility of a launch on December 30th or 31st. More importantly, photos from NASA’s DART launch campaign recently revealed that SpaceX already has an entire second Falcon 9 rocket fully integrated (sans payload) inside its SLC-4E hangar. That rocket – Falcon 9 booster B1051 with a new upper stage already installed – was originally scheduled to launch Starlink 2-3 (polar-orbiting laser-linked satellites) on October 17th.

Several weeks of delays – most likely involving the mission’s Starlink payload – precluded an October launch and ultimately pushed the launch to December once it came within four or five weeks of NASA’s DART mission, which took priority. With any luck, SpaceX has fixed whatever issues grounded the mission in the last six weeks, potentially enabling a West Coast Starlink launch just one month after DART – around the last full week of December.

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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Cybertruck

Tesla Cybertruck undergoes interior mod that many owners wanted

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tesla cybertruck diy bench seat
Credit: @blueskykites | X

Tesla Cybertruck is significantly different from traditional pickups on the market in a lot of ways. However, one feature that was recently modified with its interior was a highly requested characteristic that is present in other trucks, but was void from Cybertruck.

Tesla went with a five-seat configuration with Cybertruck: two in the front and three in the back. The spacious interior is matched with plenty of storage, especially up front, as a pass-through, center console, and other storage options, but some Tesla fans wanted something different: bench seating.

Bench seating is popular in many full-size pickups and allows three passengers to sit up front. The middle seat is usually accompanied by a fold-down storage unit with cupholders.

Tesla decided to opt for no bench seating up front, despite the fact that it equipped bench seating in the unveiling in 2019. Interior photos from the unveiling event from nearly six-and-a-half years ago show Tesla had originally planned to have a six-seat configuration.

This was adjusted after the company refined the design:

tesla cybertruck initial interior

(Tesla Cybertruck interior configuration in 2019)

Despite Tesla abandoning this design, it does not mean owners were willing to accept it. One owner decided to modify their Tesla Cybertruck interior to equip that third seat between the driver’s and passenger’s thrones.

The fit is snug, and while it looks great, it is important to remember that this does not abide byregulations, as it would require an airbag to be technically legal. Please do not do this at home with your own Cybertruck:

The Cybertruck is a popular vehicle in terms of publicity, but its sales have been underwhelming since first delivered to customers back in 2023. It’s hard to believe it’s been out for two-and-a-half years, but despite this, Tesla has not been able to come through on its extensive order sheet.

This is mostly due to price, as Cybertruck was simply not as affordable as Tesla originally planned. Its three configurations were initially priced at $39,990, $49,990, and $69,990. At release, Cybertruck was priced above $100,000.

This priced out many of those who had placed orders, which is the main reason Cybertruck has not lived up to its expectations in terms of sales. The adjustments to the specific features, like the removal of the bench seat, likely did not impact sales as much as pricing did.

This modification shows some creativity by Tesla owners, but also shows that the Cybertruck could always be the subject of a potential refresh to include some of these features. Tesla routinely adjusts its vehicle designs every few years, so maybe the Cybertruck could get something like this if it chooses to refresh its all-electric pickup.

 

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk drops massive bomb about Cybercab

“And there is so much to this car that is not obvious on the surface,” Musk said.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk dropped a massive bomb about the Cybercab, which is the company’s fully autonomous ride-hailing vehicle that will enter production later this year.

The Cybercab was unveiled back in October 2024 at the company’s “We, Robot” event in Los Angeles, and is among the major catalysts for the company’s growth in the coming years. It is expected to push Tesla into a major growth phase, especially as the automaker is transitioning into more of an AI and Robotics company than anything else.

The Cybercab will enable completely autonomous ride-hailing for Tesla, and although its other vehicles will also be capable of this technology, the Cybercab is slightly different. It will have no steering wheel or pedals, and will allow two occupants to travel from Point A to Point B with zero responsibilities within the car.

Tesla shares epic 2025 recap video, confirms start of Cybercab production

Details on the Cybercab are pretty face value at this point: we know Tesla is enabling 1-2 passengers to ride in it at a time, and this strategy was based on statistics that show most ride-hailing trips have no more than two occupants. It will also have in-vehicle entertainment options accessible from the center touchscreen.

It will also have wireless charging capabilities, which were displayed at “We, Robot,” and there could be more features that will be highly beneficial to riders, offering a full-fledged autonomous experience.

Musk dropped a big hint that there is much more to the Cybercab than what we know, as a post on X said that “there is so much to this car that is not obvious on the surface.”

As the Cybercab is expected to enter production later this year, Tesla is surely going to include a handful of things they have not yet revealed to the public.

Musk seems to be indicating that some of the features will make it even more groundbreaking, and the idea is to enable a truly autonomous experience from start to finish for riders. Everything from climate control to emergency systems, and more, should be included with the car.

It seems more likely than not that Tesla will make the Cybercab its smartest vehicle so far, as if its current lineup is not already extremely intelligent, user-friendly, and intuitive.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla Q4 delivery numbers are better than they initially look: analyst

The Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner shared his thoughts in a post on his website.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Longtime Tesla analyst and Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster has shared his insights on Tesla’s Q4 2025 deliveries. As per the analyst, Tesla’s numbers are actually better than they first appear. 

Munster shared his thoughts in a post on his website. 

Normalized December Deliveries

Munster noted that Tesla delivered 418k vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2025, slightly below Street expectations of 420k but above the whisper number of 415k. Tesla’s reported 16% year-over-year decline, compared to +7% in September, is largely distorted by the timing of the tax credit expiration, which pulled forward demand.

“Taking a step back, we believe September deliveries pulled forward approximately 55k units that would have otherwise occurred in December or March. For simplicity, we assume the entire pull-forward impacted the December quarter. Under this assumption, September growth would have been down ~5% absent the 55k pull-forward, a Deepwater estimate tied to the credit’s expiration.

For December deliveries to have declined ~5% year over year would imply total deliveries of roughly 470k. Subtracting the 55k units pulled into September results in an implied December delivery figure of approximately 415k. The reported 418k suggests that, when normalizing for the tax credit timing, quarter-over-quarter growth has been consistently down ~5%. Importantly, this ~5% decline represents an improvement from the ~13% declines seen in both the March and June 2025 quarters.

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Tesla’s United States market share

Munster also estimated that Q4 as a whole might very well show a notable improvement in Tesla’s market share in the United States. 

“Over the past couple of years, based on data from Cox Automotive, Tesla has been losing U.S. EV market share, declining to just under 50%. Based on data for October and November, Cox estimates that total U.S. EV sales were down approximately 35%, compared to Tesla’s just reported down 16% for the full quarter.  For the first two months of the quarter, Cox reported Tesla market share of roughly a 65% share, up from under 50% in the September quarter.

“While this data excludes December, the quarter as a whole is likely to show a material improvement in Tesla’s U.S. EV market share.

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