News
SpaceX targets back-to-back Falcon 9 Block 5 launch and landing in July
As the end of June fast approaches, SpaceX’s July launch manifest has begun to coalesce around at least one pair of launches on July 18 and 20, a schedule that might see the company’s next two new Block 5 Falcon 9 boosters fly from West and East coasts with just 30 hours between them.
While not exactly the 24-hour reuse CEO Elon Musk set the company to by end of 2019, two back-to-back launches of new Block 5 boosters would seem to signify an increasing level of operational confidence in the rocket’s new, upgraded configuration, as well as a return to form in factory production of the complex Falcon 9 boosters, only four of which have shipped in the last seven months.

The first Block 5 Falcon 9 lifts off on May 4, 2018. Cheaper launches as a result of reusable rockets may not necessarily increase demand for satellite launches. (Tom Cross)
As it stands today, SpaceX’s West Coast customer Iridium confirmed on June 15th that the company’s 7th contracted Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for early morning on July 20, and Iridium CEO Matt Desch noted that such an early launch just before sunrise holds the potential to create another scare like that from Iridium-4 in December 2017 that had Los Angeles suspecting an alien invasion.
Now that you have the date and time, you should note that it's about 10 minutes after "first light", but still an hour before sunrise at VAFB. Not sure if it will work out or not, but there is potential for another nice "show" like we had in December for L-4.. #LetsScareLAAgain https://t.co/BIyKrwhrof
— Matt Desch (@IridiumBoss) June 15, 2018
It has yet to be explicitly confirmed, but the booster set to launch that mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base all but has to be B1048, SpaceX’s third full Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. Barring delays, B1047 – the second Block 5 booster, spotted near Cape Canaveral, FL last week – will launch the Telstar 19V geostationary communications satellite a bit more than a day before – July 18th – from SpaceX’s LC-40 pad in Florida. Aside from being the foundational second and third launches of Falcon 9 Block 5, the missions will also feature two drone ship landings in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans aboard Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) and Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).
Putting their titanium grid fins, upgraded heat shields, uprated Merlin engines, and myriad improvements and optimizations to good use, both B1047 and B1048 will – with a little luck – complete their first recoveries of anywhere from ten to a hundred before being secured on the autonomous vessels and carried back to their respective ports within roughly 24 hours of each other. Once there, B1048 (Iridium-7) will likely be shipped a few miles north to SpaceX’s Hawthorne factory, while B1047 will be driven on a purpose-built rocket carrier to one of SpaceX’s several Floridan facilities outfitted for rocket refurbishment.
- B1047 captured testing in McGregor, Texas, April 2018. (Teslarati/Aero Photo)
- What was likely B1049 spotted heading to McGregor, Texas for static fire testing, June 11. (TeslaMotorsClub /u/nwdiver)
- Falcon 9 B1045 prepares for its first flight, the launch of NASA’s TESS exoplanet observatory. (SpaceX)
Time will be of the essence more than ever before for those refurbishments, as the combined fleet of B1047 and B1048 will have to suffice for any additional launches scheduled for late July or early August, the only alternatives being the rapid shipment and testing of B1049 or simply delaying those launches until boosters can be (safely) made available. Block 5’s purpose-built reusability and reliability-focused upgrades will thus be subjected to a near-immediate trial by fire if SpaceX’s engineers and technicians are happy with the first Block 5 rocket’s teardown analysis and the company is up for the challenge.
Up next, fittingly, is the final orbital launch of a (flight-proven) Block 4 version of Falcon 9, itself likely to smash SpaceX’s previous record for time between two flights of the same booster. The mission, CRS-15, will see another flight-proven orbital Cargo Dragon capsule sent to the International Space Station aboard a flight-proven rocket booster, a veritable tip of the hat at SpaceX’s future ambitions with BFR. CRS-15 is scheduled to launch at 5:41am EDT, June 28.
Follow us for live updates, peeks behind the scenes, and photos from Teslarati’s East and West coast photographers.
Teslarati – Instagram – Twitter
Tom Cross – Twitter
Pauline Acalin – Twitter
Eric Ralph – Twitter
Elon Musk
Why automakers keep turning down Elon Musk’s Tesla Full Self-Driving offer
Elon Musk confirms no automaker has ever accepted Tesla’s offer to license Full Self-Driving software.
Elon Musk gave a brief answer on X Monday that confirmed that Tesla’s standing offer to license Full Self-Driving to other automakers still has zero takers. Sawyer Merritt wrote that “Tesla has for years openly invited other automakers to license FSD. None of them have accepted,” responding to a prediction from Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl that Tesla would eventually open FSD the way it opened its Supercharger network to rival brands. Musk’s reply to Merritt was one word: “Exactly.”
It is not the first time Musk has made this point. He said something similar in November, when he called legacy automakers reluctance to adopt FSD “crazy,” and Tesla has floated the offer publicly since at least 2021. Scholl’s prediction touches on something real. Once NACS became the de facto charging standard, adoption from Ford, GM, Rivian and others followed within about a year. FSD licensing was supposed to work the same way once Tesla built enough of a lead that switching made sense for everyone.
Tesla has for years openly invited other automakers to license FSD. None of them have accepted. https://t.co/kgz4idpoUM
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 22, 2026
The case for licensing now is stronger than it was two years ago. Waymo and Zoox are logging hundreds of thousands of unsupervised autonomous miles, along with Tesla’s own Robotaxi fleet. Every automaker still selling driver assist systems that lag FSD has given the robotaxi conversation to Tesla, Waymo and Zoox by default. Licensing FSD would let a GM or a Ford compete on the same field without spending a decade and billions of dollars building a stack from scratch, the same argument Tesla made when it opened the Supercharger network to bring more EVs onto its chargers.
But FSD is not a connector standard. As one reply to Musk’s post pointed out, licensing FSD is not a software license the way NACS was a plug spec. It requires adopting Tesla’s eight camera layout and its onboard compute architecture, meaning a licensee’s cars would effectively become Tesla hardware wearing someone else’s badge. That is the visible obstacle. The less visible one is data. A licensed FSD stack would report back the same telemetry Tesla collects from its own fleet, giving Tesla a continuous read on how a competitor’s cars are actually driven, where they struggle, and how often drivers intervene. For an automaker trying to build its own autonomy program, or simply trying to keep its build quality and safety record private, handing Tesla that visibility could be a bigger cost than the hardware bill. It is the reason the Supercharger comparison only goes so far. Opening a charging plug cost Tesla very little. Opening FSD would cost a rival something it cannot get back.
News
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking buyers for a $50,000 deposit just days before an October 1 reveal event in Waco, Texas. The move revives a reservation process first launched in 2017 and later paused when Tesla pulled pricing from its website in 2021.
The reservation page requires an immediate $5,000 credit-card payment, described as fully refundable, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days, which is identical to what was expected previously. Reservations are not considered final until the wire clears.
The structure matches the 2017 terms Tesla used when it first collected deposits after unveiling a prototype. Tesla has not published a confirmed retail price or production start date on the order page.
Go buy a Roadster pic.twitter.com/n7rhouAmIS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
The October 1 event is scheduled in Waco, about 90 minutes north of Tesla’s Austin headquarters and near SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site. Tesla sent invitations to existing reservation holders and posted a “Go for launch” teaser on September 12.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established a temporary flight restriction over the McGregor area from September 18 through October 2, consistent with plans for a demonstration involving SpaceX-designed cold-gas thrusters. Elon Musk has previously described the optional package as enabling extreme acceleration or brief hovering. Tesla has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.
The second-generation Roadster was first shown in November 2017 during Tesla’s Semi launch. Musk promised production in 2020, with claimed performance of 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, more than 250 mph top speed, and roughly 620 miles of range.
Those targets have slipped repeatedly.
Tesla later pointed to 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025-2026 before indicating production would not begin until 2027 or 2028 at Gigafactory Texas. Design work has continued, with reports of a sharper, Cybertruck-influenced look replacing the original curvy prototype.
Original reservation holders who paid $50,000 in 2017, or $250,000 for the Founders Series, have waited nearly nine years without a production car. Some high-profile customers canceled. Tesla’s decision to reopen orders now, after previously shutting them down, tests whether new buyers will commit substantial funds before seeing a finalized production vehicle. The October 1 event is intended to answer remaining questions about what those buyers will actually receive and when.
News
Tesla Full Self-Driving expands to another European country
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is heading to Czechia after the Czech Ministry of Transport recognised the Dutch RDW’s provisional type approval, making the country the seventh EU member state to clear the system for public roads. Tesla Europe announced on 21 September 2026 that “FSD Supervised is now approved in Czechia” and that rollout “will begin soon.”
The decision marks a notable reversal. Earlier in 2026, Prague had declined to automatically recognise the Netherlands’ April approval, citing concerns over speed-limit compliance, traffic-sign recognition and driver-attention monitoring, and arguing that a coordinated EU approach was preferable. Officials said months of expert review, talks with Tesla and other member states, and real-world data from countries already using the system resolved those issues.
🚨 Tesla FSD heading to Czechia 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/mkzlM9QjrB
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
“Safety remains the top priority,” the ministry stated.
FSD Supervised remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system: the driver must stay engaged and is legally responsible. Eligible vehicles need AI4, the company’s most up-to-date hardware version. Tesla is expected to push the feature over the air in the coming days, following the pattern seen after earlier national approvals.
Europe’s rollout began when Dutch regulator RDW issued a provisional EU type approval on 10 April 2026 after extensive testing. Mutual recognition then produced a rapid cascade: Lithuania (20 May), Estonia (29 May), Denmark (9 June), Belgium (10 June) and Slovenia (7 September). Czechia now completes that list of seven.
The approvals cover only a modest share of the EU population, but they add political weight ahead of a 6 October vote by the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles. A qualified majority, at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population, could open the remaining markets, including large ones such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have so far preferred to wait for a bloc-wide decision.
For Czech Tesla owners, the immediate prize is access to the same supervised highway and city driving already available in the other six countries. For Tesla, each new market generates additional European driving data and strengthens the case that FSD Supervised can operate safely under the continent’s varied road rules. The Czech approval is therefore both a local milestone and another incremental step toward a wider European launch.


