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SpaceX fires up Falcon 9 for first flight-proven ‘national security’ launch
On June 12th, SpaceX successfully fired up a once-flown Falcon 9 booster in the lead-up to the company’s fourth launch of an upgraded GPS III navigation satellite for the US military.
Dating back several years, SpaceX has won a vast majority of GPS III launches thanks to Falcon 9’s exceptional combination of reliability and affordability, securing all five competitively-awarded contracts. The company aced its first GPS III launch in December 2019, expending a brand new Falcon 9 booster (B1054) due to customer – not performance – requirements necessary to ensure extreme margins in the event of some kind of anomaly or underperformance during launch.
In June 2020, SpaceX once again launched a GPS III satellite for the US military, though this time the company was allowed to attempt to land the Falcon 9 booster supporting the mission – which it successfully recovered without issue. Less than five months after GPS III SV03’s successful launch, SpaceX turned around and launched GPS III SV04 – again with an all-new Falcon 9 rocket – and recovered the booster at sea. A few months prior, however, the US Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) announced a contract modification that would allow SpaceX to begin reusing Falcon 9 boosters on National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions – beginning with the company’s fourth GPS III launch.
Seven months later, SMC revealed that it has officially cleared SpaceX to begin launching GPS III (and other official NSSL) satellites on flight-proven Falcon rockets. Notably, that might include a Falcon Heavy launch – USSF-52 – planned as early as January 2022 that could reuse two new side boosters scheduled to debut on USSF-44 as early as October 2021.
In the meantime, though, GPS III SV05 – scheduled to launch no earlier than (NET) 12:09 pm EDT (16:09 UTC), Thursday, June 17th – is just two days away from becoming the first NSSL (formerly EELV) satellite to launch on a flight-proven commercial rocket. GPS III SV05 will reuse the same Falcon 9 booster (B1062) that successfully launched GPS III SV04 seven months prior.
While an extremely slow turnaround relative to any other modern Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy booster, those seven months mainly gave the US military margin to fully certify flight-proven Falcons and satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin time to deal with shortage and coronavirus-related delays. On June 12th, after rolling out to SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral LC-40 launch pad, GPS III SV05’s Falcon 9 rocket completed a wet dress rehearsal that culminated in a successful several-second static fire of booster B1062.
Now cleared for flight, Falcon 9 will be brought horizontal and roll back to LC-40’s integration hangar, where SpaceX will install the encapsulated GPS III SV05 satellite and payload fairing on top of the rocket’s expendable second stage.
The integrated payload assembly rolled from a nearby payload processing facility to LC-40 on June 13th, giving SpaceX four days to complete integration, roll Falcon 9 back out to the launch pad, and prepare the rocket for flight. Now alone on the East Coast for the first time in 12 months, drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) departed Port Canaveral for the GPS III SV05 booster recovery zone on the same day, followed by the latest in a line of temporary fairing recovery ships on June 14th to scoop the mission’s nosecone halves out of the Atlantic.
L-3 weather forecasts predict a 40% chance of delay on June 17th, improving to 30% on June 18th. Stay tuned for webcast details as SpaceX nears the first of many flight-proven launches for the US military.
Tesla has finally clarified the situation regarding the viral crash in Texas where a Model 3 slammed into a home.
CEO Elon Musk replied to reports on Monday that stated the crash was due to the company’s Full Self-Driving or Autopilot suite, which seemed unlikely to those who are familiar with it. Video showed the car slamming into a house at an excessive rate of speed, making it highly unlikely the crash was due to the suite’s operation, as it does not travel at those speeds in residential areas.
Musk said:
“This makes no sense. FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets, and this was a high-speed crash!”
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, added context, revealing that the company’s data shows the driver “manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.”
He revealed the speed reached by the car was 73 MPH, and the accelerator was still pressed “even after the crash.”
Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Authorities are reportedly investigating “whether Tesla’s Autopilot system played a role after a Model 3 left the roadway…slammed through a brick house at high speed and fatally struck Matha Avila as she sat inside,” the New York Post reported.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is now investigating the crash. Tesla will work with the agency to provide them with whatever information they need in order to clarify the cause of the crash.
Similarly, Tesla had claims of a fatal accident in Harris County, Texas, a few years ago. Early reports indicated that Full Self-Driving was the cause of the crash. After the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) worked with Tesla, the agency proved there was “no use of the Autopilot system at any time during this ownership period of the vehicle, including the time frame up to the last transmitted timestamp on April 17, 2021.”
Tesla alleged “driverless” crash in Texas: What is known so far
“Application of the accelerator pedal was found to be as high as 98.8 percent,” the NTSB said in their findings. The highest recorded speed in the five seconds leading up to the impact was 67 miles per hour. The area where the crash occurred is residential, and Texas State laws have default speed limits of 30 MPH in residential streets.
This appears to be a similar situation. However, an investigation will prove what happened for sure.
SpaceX announced today that it commenced its first-ever public bond offering, marking a significant step in the newly public company’s capital markets strategy.
The company announced an offering of senior unsecured notes expected to raise at least $20 billion.
The move comes just a short time after SpaceX completed one of the largest initial public offerings in history. In mid-June, the company priced shares at $135 and raised more than $85 billion, propelling founder Elon Musk’s net worth past the trillion-dollar mark and giving the firm substantial liquidity.
🚨 SpaceX has announced its inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes.
The net proceeds will be used to repay outstanding loans under its bridge loan facility in full.
This inaugural debt offering represents a financing milestone for SpaceX, which previously depended… pic.twitter.com/pcOZuVbTRv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
According to the company’s SEC filing, the net proceeds from the notes will be used primarily to repay in full the outstanding borrowings under its existing bridge loan facility, cover related fees and expenses, and fund general corporate purposes. The offering is being conducted under Rule 144A, as well as Regulation S, targeting qualified institutional buyers and non-U.S. investors. Notes will be unsecured obligations ranking equally with other unsubordinated debt.
The $20 billion bridge loan was used to refinance approximately $17.5 billion in higher-cost “junk” debt tied to X and xAI. SpaceX had merged with xAI in February 2026 in an all-stock deal. The bridge facility, which matures in September 2027, had represented the bulk of SpaceX’s long-term debt.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
In connection with the bond launch, SpaceX disclosed it held approximately $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. Investor calls began on the announcement date, with pricing and launch expected shortly thereafter. Rating agencies have assigned investment-grade ratings to the proposed bonds, reflecting confidence in SpaceX’s dominant position in commercial launches and the growth trajectory of its Starlink internet offering.
The debt raise also allows SpaceX to optimize its balance sheet by replacing short-term, higher-cost bridge financing with longer-date, lower-cost fixed-income securities. This provides greater financial flexibility to support capital-intensive initiatives, including the development of Starship, the expansion of the Starlink constellation, and the integration of AI capabilities following the xAI combination.
SpaceX shares (NASDAQ: SPCX) fell sharply on the news, dropping over 16 percent overall on the market on Monday. The stock had surged initially after debuting but pulled back amid profit-taking and broader market dynamics.
Overall, the bond offering underscores SpaceX’s transition to a mature public company with access to diverse funding sources. It positions the firm to pursue its long-term vision of multiplanetary expansion and AI infrastructure, while maintaining a disciplined approach to its capital structure in a high-growth but capital-heavy industry.
SpaceX confirmed today that it has officially signed its third massive compute deal, providing compute at its Colossus data center in Southaven, Mississippi.
Reflection AI will gain immediate access to NVIDIA GB300 chips at SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data center. In return, Reflection will pay SpaceX $150 million per month starting on July 1, with total payments reaching approximately $6.3 billion if the contract runs through its duration, which is until 2029. Either party can terminate the agreement with 90 days’ notice after the initial three-month period.
CNBC first reported the deal.
🚨 SpaceXAI has agreed to a new compute deal with Reflection AI.
Reflection gets access to NIVIDIA GB300s, and will pay $150M per month to SpaceXAI for the compute. pic.twitter.com/bNPare8U5u
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
This latest partnership highlights SpaceX’s strategy of commercializing its massive Colossus supercomputing infrastructure, originally developed to power Elon Musk’s Grok AI models. The company has rapidly expanded its customer base in the AI sector following its February 2026 merger with xAI, a transaction that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion.
SpaceX has previously signed significant compute deals with other major players.
It granted Anthropic exclusive access to the full capacity of its Colossus 1 data center, which exceeds 300 megawatts and includes over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Details from SpaceX’s IPO filings indicate Anthropic will pay $1.25 billion per month through May 2029, potentially generating around $45 billion over the term of the deal.
Additionally, Google agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million per month for compute capacity from October 2026 through June 2029. This 32-month period will provide Google access to roughly 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs, along with supporting processors and memory. Capacity ramps up through September at a reduced fee, with termination options after the first year.
SpaceXA also established arrangements for computing power with Cursor, an AI coding startup. SpaceX acquired them in a $60 billion all-stock deal.
These arrangements position SpaceX’s collective position as an AI infrastructure powerhouse with high-margin revenue potential. The Google deal alone could generate nearly $29.5 billion over its term, while the Reflection contract adds another $6.3 billion.
Combined with the Anthropic arrangement, SpaceX stands to realize tens of billions in revenue from compute leasing in the coming years, which diversifies beyond SpaceX’s traditional rocket launches and Starlink operation.
The deals underscore growing demand for advanced AI training and inference capacity amid chip shortages and surging model development needs. Reflection, valued at $25 billion and focused on “American open intelligence” with government and national security ties, cited recent restrictions on closed models as validation for open-source approaches.
For SpaceX, the partnerships transform capital-intensive data centers into flexible revenue sources while supporting its broader AI ambitions after the company has gone public.
Tesla finally clarifies fatal Texas crash, confirms driver manually overrode acceleration
SpaceX makes $20 billion move to optimize its balance sheet
