News
SpaceX Falcon 9 booster nails record fourth launch and landing during Starlink-1
For the first time ever, SpaceX has successfully launched and landed the same Falcon 9 booster on four separate orbital-class missions, pushing the rocket’s Block 5 upgrade one step closer to realizing its ambitious design goals.
After an unprecedented lull of more than three months between launches, SpaceX has successfully returned to flight with its internal Starlink-1 mission, simultaneously crossing off multiple rocket reusability milestones. In terms of value added, Falcon 9 booster B1048’s reflight was the most important non-satellite achievement of the mission.
Impressively, B1048 has now successfully launched and landed on four separate occasions, a first for all Falcon 9 or Heavy boosters. Some nine minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida’s LC-40 launch pad, B1048 came to a gentle, near-bullseye halt aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), stationed some 630 km (340 mi) northeast of the Florida coast.
With the successful completion of Starlink-1, B1048 alone has now collectively supported the launch of more than 35 metric tons (77,000 lb) into Earth orbit, as well as the first attempted (but sadly unsuccessful) commercial Moon landing attempt as part of its third launch in February 2019. This particular tidbit is noteworthy because it likely makes B1048 the first Falcon 9 booster to help orbit more than twice the payload mass it would otherwise be capable of launching in a single mission, an impressive reminder of the game-changing success of SpaceX’s reusable rocketry development.
Even then, B1049 is likely close on B1048’s heels – if not already ahead of the booster – in terms of the mass of satellites it has singlehandedly helped to place in orbit.
Aside from Falcon 9 B1048’s historic fourth launch and landing, Starlink-1 also marked the first time SpaceX has launched a flight-proven payload fairing, a huge step towards ensuring that nearly all future Falcon launches are up to 80% flight-proven and 80% reusable. Starlink-1’s payload fairing previously flew on Falcon Heavy Block 5’s Arabsat 6A launch debut back in April 2019, essentially a worst-case scenario for fairing reuse.
That successful reuse in spite of the fairing’s exceptionally extreme launch and recovery conditions suggests that almost any fairing recovered in the future will capable of at least one reuse, be it on internal Starlink missions if not customer launches. CEO Elon Musk has previously indicated that Falcon 9 (and Heavy) fairings represent approximately 10% of the cost of Falcon 9 launches, meaning that each set of halves has a price tag of roughly $6 million. Additionally, it’s believed that Falcon fairing production has some of the longest lead-time aspects of any aspect of SpaceX rocket manufacturing, to the point that fairings could easily become a bottleneck for launch cadence without expensive production facility upgrades.
Instead, SpaceX may have chosen to spend a similar amount of time and money making Falcon fairings routinely recoverable and reusable. That program crossed a turning point in June and August 2019, when fairing recovery ship GO Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) successfully caught two fairing halves in a row, unequivocally proving that the challenging catches are repeatable. Three months later, November 11th’s Starlink-1 launch has also proven that fairings can be reused even without a successful catch, meaning that it will likely be far easier and far more viable to reuse fairings that have been saved from ocean baths.
Unfortunately, SpaceX had to call off an attempted dual recovery of both fairing halves and GO Ms. Chief’s first operational catch attempt due to high seas in the recovery area. Prior to her remaining, similar sea conditions destroyed and broke off two of Mr. Steven’s arms while traveling to the recovery area, and SpaceX has clearly learned from that experience.
SpaceX’s Starlink-1 launch webcast can be watched in full at the link below.
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Investor's Corner
Tesla receives major institutional boost with Nomura’s rising stake
The move makes Tesla Nomura’s 10th-largest holding at about 1% of its entire portfolio.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has gained fresh institutional support, with Nomura Asset Management expanding its position in the automaker.
Nomura boosted its Tesla holdings by 4.2%, adding 47,674 shares and bringing its total position to more than 1.17 million shares valued at roughly $373.6 million. The move makes Tesla Nomura’s 10th-largest holding at about 1% of its entire portfolio.
Institutional investors and TSLA
Nomura’s filing was released alongside several other fund updates. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings by 11.8%, as noted in a MarketBeat report, and Revolve Wealth Partners lifted its TSLA position by 21.2%. Bison Wealth increased its Tesla stake by 52.2%, AMG National Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Tesla by 11.8%, and FAS Wealth Partners increased its TSLA holdings by 22.1%. About 66% of all outstanding Tesla shares are now owned by institutional investors.
The buying comes shortly after Tesla reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $0.50 per share compared with the $0.48 consensus. Revenue reached $28.10 billion, topping Wall Street’s $24.98 billion estimate. Despite the earnings beat, Tesla continues to trade at a steep premium relative to peers, with a market cap hovering around $1.34 trillion and a price-to-earnings ratio near 270.
Recent insider sales
Some Tesla insiders have sold stock as of late. CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares in early September for just over $918,000, reducing his personal stake by about 21%. Director James R. Murdoch executed a far larger sale, offloading 120,000 shares for roughly $42 million and trimming his holdings by nearly 15%. Over the past three months, Tesla insiders have collectively sold 202,606 shares valued at approximately $75.6 million, as per SEC disclosures.
Tesla is currently entering its next phase of growth, and if it is successful, it could very well become the world’s most valuable company as a result. The company has several high-profile projects expected to be rolled out in the coming years, including Optimus, the humanoid robot, and the Cybercab, an autonomous two-seater with the potential to change the face of roads across the globe.
@teslarati Tesla Full Self-Driving yields for pedestrians while human drivers do not…the future is here! #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ 2 Little 2 Late – Levi & Mario
News
Tesla rolls out fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations
Live Pricing aimed to resolve some of the shortcomings of the off-peak and on-peak system, aiming to keep prices low and base them on current utilization instead of a set time when prices change.
Tesla has rolled out a fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations, as it confirmed it has added 550 additional sites in the United States to its “Live Pricing” strategy.
Live Pricing for Superchargers launched back in May, and was the company’s latest strategy to keep charging your EV cheap, affordable, and easy to understand.
Tesla has adjusted its pricing strategy at Superchargers several times over the past few years, with the most notable being the 2020 introduction of off-peak and on-peak Supercharging rates.
Live Pricing aimed to resolve some of the shortcomings of the off-peak and on-peak system, aiming to keep prices low and base them on current utilization instead of a set time when prices change.
Tesla explained the program when it launched:
“We are piloting on-peak and off-peak pricing based on live Supercharger utilization rather than estimations. The average price remains unchanged, but this live feedback loop improves accuracy. This corrects off-peak pricing during times of congestion, or on-peak pricing when Superchargers are plentiful. You’ll always see the price before your session begins, and prices do not change mid-session. A small-scale pilot is launching at 10 sites and will expand based on feedback and success.”
The initial rollout only included Superchargers in California, but it was not all of them, only a handful instead. Tesla was attempting to launch it in a very controlled manner by using a Pilot Program that would iron out all the early bugs and potential issues it might run into.
However, the company expanded the program by launching it at an additional 550 sites in California, New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Illinois:
Live pricing expanded to an additional 550 sites in California, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Illinois.
Currently the average price remains the same, peak prices are unchanged and will be paid by fewer sessions.
We’ll keep iterating on getting it right, based on impact and…
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) November 14, 2025
The price you pay is locked in when you plug in, so if the Supercharger station you are charging at becomes more crowded and the program bumps up the rates because of high utilization rates, you will still receive the cheaper price that was enabled when you arrived.
@teslarati With a pedestrian in the crosswalk, Tesla Full Self-Driving shows off its courtesy. Human drivers? Not so much. #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ AMERICAN HEART – Maxwell Luke
News
Tesla Robotaxi was just spotted in a new state for the first time
The company is still attempting to expand and has explicitly stated that it plans to offer rides in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in the near future. However, a pair of Robotaxi mules, fitted with LiDAR equipment for ground truth validation, was spotted in a new region for the first time.
Tesla Robotaxi mules were spotted in a new state for the first time as the company plans to expand the ride-sharing service to new areas of the United States in the coming months.
Tesla is offering Robotaxi rides in Austin already, where nobody is present in the driver’s seat except for on freeway routes. In California, Tesla refers to its platform as a ride-hailing suite, and a “Safety Monitor” is present in the driver’s seat at all times, but the vehicle operates on Full Self-Driving.
The company is still attempting to expand and has explicitly stated that it plans to offer rides in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in the near future. However, a pair of Robotaxi mules, fitted with LiDAR equipment for ground truth validation, was spotted in a new region for the first time.
Over the weekend, Tesla Robotaxi mules were spotted in Enola, Pennsylvania, just about ten minutes from downtown Harrisburg:
🚨 Enola is about 10 minutes from Harrisburg, the State Capitol
Interesting tidbit of information as Tesla is testing Robotaxi close to PA’s legislators https://t.co/5rDlcYrV8w
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 17, 2025
Enola is situated to the northwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s State Capitol. Interestingly, you’d expect Tesla to be testing these types of vehicles in other, more populated areas; Philadelphia is about two hours East, and Pittsburgh is about three hours west. State College is about an hour North of Enola.
Looking at the location of where the vehicles were spotted tells an interesting story, as Enola, located right outside of the State Capitol, could be a move to nudge legislators to consider looking at some of the laws that deal with driverless and autonomous vehicle operation.
Pennsylvania’s Act 130 of 2022 and subsequent guidelines permit the testing of driverless vehicles in the Commonwealth, but PennDOT requires a permit from Tesla or any other company that wants to operate a ride-hailing service in PA.
It’s also important to note that the cars could have simply been stopping through, as they were spotted at a Supercharger location along Interstate 81, which spans from Tennessee to New York.
It is not to say the vehicles are testing along the entire route, but likely a segment of it. The fact that they were spotted in Pennsylvania does bode well for Tesla’s expansion efforts moving forward.
@teslarati Tesla Full Self-Driving yields for pedestrians while human drivers do not…the future is here! #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ 2 Little 2 Late – Levi & Mario
Tesla receives major institutional boost with Nomura’s rising stake
Tesla rolls out fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations
Tesla Robotaxi was just spotted in a new state for the first time
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