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SpaceX nails first Falcon 9 booster launch debut in months [photos]
On December 5th, SpaceX pulled off a flawless Falcon 9 booster debut in support of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft’s CRS-19 space station resupply mission, marking the first launch of a new booster in months.
More specifically, the last time SpaceX launched a new Falcon 9 booster was on June 25th, 2019 during STP-2, Falcon Heavy Block 5’s second mission in two months. The mission featured two flight-proven side boosters – both reused from the Block 5 rocket’s April 11th launch debut – but also relied on a new center core (B1057). B1057 unfortunately failed moments before a planned touchdown on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) but still technically qualifies as the last new booster launched by SpaceX prior to CRS-19.
A few days shy of six months later, CRS-19’s brand new Falcon 9 booster (and an expendable upper stage) rolled out to SpaceX’s LC-40 launch pad, confirming suspicions that the mission would use a new booster instead of twice-flown B1056.
After the booster successfully launched CRS-17 and CRS-18 in May and July 2019, both SpaceX and NASA indicated that B1056 was the most likely candidate to launch CRS-19. Plans clearly changed, although SpaceX indicated in a prelaunch conference that the booster manifest swap was purely a scheduling move and didn’t indicate any technical issues or dissatisfaction from NASA.
In the history of SpaceX booster reuse, NASA has thus far only been comfortable flying on flight-proven boosters that had previously flown NASA missions only, meaning that it will likely be at least 12-18 months before the space agency has another twice-flown Falcon 9 booster ready for a NASA mission. Regardless, the space agency has been undeniably willing to support the technology far sooner than most would have expected, given its history of extreme conservatism over the two or so decades.
Regardless, after a brief wind-related 24-hour delay, Falcon 9 B1059 lifted off for the first time on December 5th, performing perfectly and ultimately landing on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) to leave the upper stage with enough fuel to perform experiments after deploying Cargo Dragon. The mission’s drone ship landing – unusual for Cargo Dragon launches – raised suspicions in the spaceflight community and SpaceX ultimately confirmed the above information, indicating that CRS-19’s upper stage would perform orbital coast tests (likely for the USAF).
As it turns out Falcon 9 B1059’s flawless landing aboard OCISLY also made it the 20th booster SpaceX has successfully recovered. All told, SpaceX has flown a total of 46 separate missions with flight-proven Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, all of which have occurred since the technology’s March 2017 debut.
After reaching orbit for the third time ever, Cargo Dragon capsule C106 and a fresh trunk began the journey to the International Space Station (ISS) with around 2600 kg (5800 lb) of science experiments, consumables, and other cargo aboard. The spacecraft successful rendezvoused with the ISS on December 8th and was captured and berthed by the station’s massive robotic arm (Canadarm2) shortly thereafter. All told, SpaceX has now delivered roughly 41 metric tons (90,000 lb) of cargo for NASA over its 19 successful missions to the ISS.
Meanwhile, with its first launch and landing – and a relatively gentle one, at that – under its belt, Falcon 9 B1059 should theoretically be a prime candidate for rapid turnaround, although there’s a good chance that SpaceX will hold the booster to support CRS-20, Cargo Dragon 1’s last planned launch. That mission is expected no earlier than March 2020.
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Elon Musk
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Elon Musk told investors Semi self-driving should start working by early 2027, per today’s earnings.
During Wednesday’s’ Tesla Q2 earnings call, an analyst asked Elon Musk when Tesla would look at autonomy for the Semi. His answer set a real timeline for the first time, noting that self-driving on the Tesla Semi is expected to start working “around the end of this year or early next year”.
Musk framed the delay as a matter of priority, not capability. Tesla’s self-driving team is currently focused on Model 3, Model Y, and Cybercab, the vehicles that make up the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s fleet. Since Semi trucks on the road remain a small fraction of that total even after the recent Nevada factory ramp, Musk said it made more sense to keep the software team’s attention on what he called “the march of nines of safety” for the higher volume vehicles first. Autonomous Semi development is “taking a bit of a backseat for the next six months or so,” he said, before adding that it “will definitely be working next year and in time for the scale-up to high production of the Tesla Semi.”
Tesla Semi’s official battery capacity leaked by California regulators
The timeline lines up with what’s already been showing up on public roads. In June, a Tesla Semi was spotted in Sunnyvale wearing a full validation rig, the same rooftop sensor array Tesla mounts on vehicles ahead of an FSD milestone.
A second unit was seen near Fremont days later with a matching camera suite and lens washers. Separately, Tesla analyst Nic Cruz Patane posted video this month of the production Semi’s exterior camera array, ten AI4 based units built directly into the truck rather than added later.
Tesla Semi AI4 cameras. The production version has 10 cameras on its exterior.
These trucks are designed to be autonomous. pic.twitter.com/GH3BamxIBQ
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) April 14, 2026
Musk also gave the reason autonomy on the Semi matters in the first place, a persistent shortage of qualified truck drivers. “There is a really serious shortage of truckers,” he said on the call, framing a self-driving Semi as important both for addressing that shortage and for improving safety and comfort for the drivers running the truck today.
The timing also tracks with the Semi’s production reality. Tesla’s Q2 shareholder letter, dropped language promising the Semi would reach volume production this year. Musk pointed to 4680 battery cell output as the near-term constraint on Semi and Cybercab production. A software timeline landing in early 2027 gives Tesla’s autonomy team room to work while the hardware ramp catches up behind it.
It’s worth nothing that this isn’t necessarily a promise the Semi ships driverless next year. Musk’s own language, self-driving “working” by early 2027, describes internal validation catching up to hardware already riding on every production truck, not a public unsupervised rollout.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla Semi finally has an FSD timeline and it’s waiting on the Cybercab
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
