News
SpaceX test emergency egress drills ahead of upcoming crew mission
NASA and SpaceX are progressing full steam ahead to an epic launch of the crewed Dragon spacecraft. Known as Demo-2, the mission is estimated to blast off in mid-to-late May, marking the first-ever flight of the Dragon with astronauts on board.
As part of that historic mission, two NASA astronauts — Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken — will launch to the International Space Station, where they will spend a still to be determined amount of time. The mission, deemed critical by NASA, is progressing as planned despite the coronavirus outbreak that’s spreading across the country.
To that end, NASA and SpaceX personnel, along with the crew, practiced essential safety drills and launch day procedures at the space agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, and its Falcon 9 launcher, are equipped with numerous safety features designed to protect astronauts in the event of an emergency. And NASA wants to make sure they work.
One system — known as a launch escape system — was recently tested in-flight, proving that if something is wrong with the Falcon, the crews can be whisked away to safety by Dragon. But what if something goes wrong on the launch pad? The launchpad is equipped with a zipline that can be used to whisk astronauts quickly back to the ground should an emergency happen.
On April 3, @NASA and @SpaceX conducted an emergency egress exercise at Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy.
This demonstration was completed to ensure the crew & support teams can quickly evacuate from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency: https://t.co/5xYN51WHGp pic.twitter.com/75LTRoyMKA
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) April 7, 2020
On Friday (April 3), SpaceX and NASA completed an important test of that system. Teams simulated an “emergency egress”, running through a series of steps designed to transport the astronauts off the pad, and ensure their safety in the event that a serious problem crops up prior to liftoff.
“Teams rehearsed locating injured personnel on the 265-foot-level of the launch tower, loading them into the pad’s slidewire baskets and safely descending the tower, then successfully loading the injured participants into Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles staged at the pad perimeter,” NASA officials wrote in an update.
This follows a series of simulations that the teams ran last month. They gathered in Firing Room 4, SpaceX HQ, and Johnson Space Center to run through launch simulations, ensuring the crew and launch control teams were ready for anything on the day of launch.
The flight is one for the history books as it marks the return of human spaceflight from U.S. soil since 2011. When the space shuttle program ended, NASA and other agencies around the world relied solely on Russia to ferry their astronauts to and from space. But that was only temporary as NASA turned to private companies to build its next generation of space taxis in 2014.
Ever since, the agency’s two contractors, SpaceX and Boeing, have worked to build its own version of an astronaut transport. Following a successful uncrewed test flight, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule will be the first to launch astronauts for NASA. If this mission goes well, the California-based spaceflight company will be certified to launch astronauts on a regular basis.
NASA astronaut Shannon Walker has been assigned to the first operational crewed flight of @SpaceX's Crew Dragon, bound for the @space_station!
Pending a successful Demo-2 test, Walker, @Astro_illini, @VicGlover and @Astro_Soichi will launch this year. https://t.co/eYUN1Zt6Y0 pic.twitter.com/Fi4hCEZV3W
— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 31, 2020
It’s first crew of four people — NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover Jr., and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi — are set to fly later this year or the beginning of 2021, if all goes as planned.
Boeing completed its uncrewed test flight in December of last year; however, its capsule experienced an inflight anomaly and was unable to reach the space station. Following an extensive review, Boeing has decided to repeat its uncrewed test flight before it launches people. That flight is expected for some time this fall.
Cybertruck
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
Tesla’s new Cybertruck offering has had its delivery date pushed back once again. This is now the second time, and deliveries for the newest orders are now pushed well into 2027.
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
🚨 Tesla has updated the $59,990 Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD’s estimated delivery date to April 2027.
First deliveries are still slated for June, but if you order it now, you’ll be waiting over a year.
Demand appears to be off the charts for the new Cybertruck and consumers are… pic.twitter.com/raDCCeC0zP
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 26, 2026
Just three days ago, the initial delivery date of June 2026 was pushed back to early Fall, and now, that date has officially moved to April 2027.
The fact that Tesla has had to push back deliveries once again proves one of two things: either Tesla has slow production plans for the new Cybertruck trim, or demand is off the charts.
Judging by how Tesla is already planning to raise the price based on demand in just a few days, it seems like the company knows it is giving a tremendous deal on this spec of Cybertruck, and units are moving quickly.
That points more toward demand and not necessarily to slower production plans, but it is not confirmed.
Tesla Cybertruck’s newest trim will undergo massive change in ten days, Musk says
Tesla is set to hike the price on March 1, so tomorrow will be the final day to grab the new Cybertruck trim for just $59,990.
It features:
- Dual Motor AWD w/ est. 325 mi of range
- Powered tonneau cover
- Bed outlets (2x 120V + 1x 240V) & Powershare capability
- Coil springs w/ adaptive damping
- Heated first-row seats w/ textile material that is easy to clean
- Steer-by-wire & Four Wheel Steering
- 6’ x 4’ composite bed
- Towing capacity of up to 7,500 lbs
- Powered frunk
Interestingly, the price offering is fairly close to what Tesla unveiled back in late 2019.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.
Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.
In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified.
His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.
SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable.
Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight.
The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
