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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 returns to Earth in first on-site media photos of rocket recovery
Thanks to the introduction of a brand new rocket landing pad (LZ-4) less than half a kilometer (~0.3 miles) from SpaceX’s SLC-4 Vandenberg launch complex, members of the media attending the launch were given the first opportunity ever to capture a Falcon booster recovery with remote cameras.
Battling the possibility that SpaceX might forbid landing photos entirely or that Vandenberg’s infamous fog banks would forbid them in a different sense, cautious optimism was ultimately warranted, and picture-perfect weather lead to both an extraordinary light show over much of California and the successful capture of the first unofficial remote images of a Falcon 9 landing.
SpaceX landed a booster at Vandenberg for the first time, in case you hadn’t heard! Here are a few frames from one of my remote cameras aimed at the landing zone (LZ-4).#spaceX #SAOCOM1A @Teslarati pic.twitter.com/w2FMM5DJRQ
— Pauline Acalin (@w00ki33) October 8, 2018
Following successful separation from Falcon 9’s upper stage and the SAOCOM 1A satellite payload, booster B1048 immediately began a rapid 180-degree flip maneuver, igniting either one or three of its Merlin 1D engines to begin its journey back to the launch site. After cancelling out a velocity of roughly 2 kilometers per second in the wrong direction, B1048 dropped almost straight down from a peak altitude of ~50 km to the landing zone, punctuated by a reentry burn used to protect the rocket from the brunt of atmospheric reentry heating.
A bit less than eight minutes after launch, the first stage broke through the sound barrier, began a single-engine landing burn, deployed its landing legs, and came to a gentle rest at Landing Zone-4, B1048’s second successful launch and landing. Thanks to the low-energy orbit, relatively small satellite, and Falcon 9 Block 5’s healthy performance margins, B1048 likely experienced the most forgiving recovery conditions since SpaceX began landing and reusing boosters, making the rocket a prime candidate to be the first SpaceX Falcon 9 booster to fly three times.
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- Falcon 9 B1048’s SLC-4E launch and LZ-4 launch in one camera frame. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Teslarati’s own Pauline Acalin managed to capture a number of extraordinary photos of launch and landing with her remote cameras. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Falcon 9 B1048.2 landed at LZ-4 after its second successful launch. (SpaceX)
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- It’s second landing marked the debut of SpaceX’s LZ-4 landing zone. B1048 may be a prime candidate for SpaceX’s first triple booster reuse. (SpaceX)
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- Falcon 9 B1048 landed at LZ-4 after its second launch and is now being refurbished on the opposite coast. (SpaceX)
Even more so, the fact that B1048 landed barely ~2000 feet from SpaceX’s SLC-4 hangar – where it will be inspected and refurbished – will be a boon for rapid and affordable reusability, thanks to the fact that SpaceX does not have to operate any complex ships, shut down public roads, or transport the recovered rocket more than a few thousand feet. SpaceX confirmed as much during its SAOCOM 1A webcast.
Not yet officially on the schedule, SpaceX’s next Vandenberg launch is expected to be Spaceflight Industries’ SSO-A rideshare mission, carrying around 70 individual satellites of varying masses. Chronically delayed by the complexity of wrangling 70 different spacecraft into a single fairing and – more recently – minor issues with rocket availability, several of SSO-A’s passengers have provided a tentative launch date of November 19th, 2018. If SpaceX is planning to reuse B1048 a third time with SSO-A, that will demand a record-breaking turnaround for the booster, as few as 42 days between landing #2 and launch #3.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
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 is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
