News
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launches atop pillar of flame and races home on drone ship
After yet another gorgeous and successful night launch and drone ship recovery of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, Of Course I Still Love You and its Block 5 booster passenger have wasted no time at all in a bid to avoid the brunt of Hurricane Florence, currently nipping at the heels of SpaceX’s East Coast recovery fleet.
Last night’s launch of Telstar 18 VANTAGE marked Falcon 9’s 60th successful mission. pic.twitter.com/iKXsnayASz
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 10, 2018
While Florence is now firmly aimed at Virginia and the Carolinas and is at least 24 hours out from actually impacting Falcon 9, its drone ship carrier, and the tugboat towing them back to Port Canaveral, the trio are certainly skirting the edge of the storm in the sense that hurricanes and tropical storms are known to sometimes drastically depart from their forecasted trajectories.
In the case of drone ship OCISLY and Falcon 9 B1049, tugboat Hawk is only capable of safely pulling the duo at around 7 knots (~8 mph), whereas Hurricane Florence is now heading West at a stately 13 mph, likely to accelerate moderately as the storm picks up energy. Ultimately, it’s probably of minor concern to SpaceX, but very little time was nevertheless wasted securing the recovered rocket booster (presumably with a robotic tool known informally as Octagrabber) and reaching a healthy cruising speed scarcely six or seven hours after its post-launch landing.
- SpaceX’s rocket-securing robot, known as Octagrabber, seen on OCISLY after another successful rocket recovery, August 12th. (Tom Cross)
- Falcon 9 B1046 seen landing on OCISLY for the first time, May 2018. (SpaceX)
- B1046 lands on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You for the second time in three months, August 2018. (SpaceX)
- B1049 stands proud after a successful landing aboard drone ship OCISLY. (SpaceX)
With a bit more than 75 miles under its belt half a day after landing, Falcon 9 should crest the horizon East of Port Canaveral as early as Wednesday morning, giving SpaceX technicians maybe 24 hours to attempt to secure the rocket and/or transport it to a hurricane-rated building in the unlikely but possible event that Florence veers South towards Cape Canaveral over the next two days. The risk is undoubtedly quite low, but it’s hard to rationalize not taking all practical precautions when a $30-40 million piece of potentially reusable rocket hardware is set to bear the brunt of any failure on the contrary.
- Falcon 9 B1049 lifts off from SpaceX’s LC-40 pad on September 10, producing more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust.(Tom Cross)
- Falcon 9 B1049 lifts off from SpaceX’s LC-40 pad, September 10. (Tom Cross)
Nevertheless, this stunning launch – SpaceX’s 60th successful Falcon 9 mission and 16th successful rocket launch this year alone – has served as another impressive indication of just how mature a launch vehicle Falcon 9 Block 5 is, marking its fifth wholly uneventful mission – in this case threading the needle through downright bad weather conditions at the launch site and an approaching tempest in the Atlantic.
Captured on liftoff by Teslarati photographer Tom Cross, the successful launch of Telstar 18V will hopefully become the first of many successful missions for the highly reusable Block 5 booster, B1049.
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!
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X sees outage on Monday as users report issues
Monday’s outage follows a similar issue that befell the social media platform in mid-January.
X experienced an outage on Monday morning, with tens of thousands of users reporting that the platform failed to load across both desktop and mobile. The disruption began around 8:02 a.m. ET, as per Downdetector data, and quickly escalated in the U.S. and U.K.
Monday’s outage follows a similar issue that befell the social media platform in mid-January.
Shortly after 8 a.m. ET, Downdetector showed a sharp rise in incident reports. At one point, U.S. complaints exceeded 40,000, while U.K. reports climbed past 6,000. Earlier in the outage, filings had already crossed 11,000 in the U.S. and 3,300 in the U.K., as noted in a TechRadar report. X users in other locations, such as the Philippines and Costa Rica, also reported similar issues.
Users attempting to access X were met with a “something went wrong” message. Feeds did not refresh, posts failed to appear, and both the social media platform’s app and web versions appeared affected by the issue. The outage struck during peak weekday usage, amplifying its visibility across regions worldwide.
X has not issued an official explanation for the latest outage or confirmed what caused the service disruption. The scale of complaints drew comparisons to the platform’s major outage in November 2025, which resulted in users being met with “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages, as well as Cloudflare-related error notices.
The incident also comes just weeks after X experienced a similar downtime in mid-January. That outage seemed more notable, however, with more than 100,000 users reporting issues with the social media platform on Downdetector.
Elon Musk
New details emerge on The Boring Company’s Universal tunnel plans
The materials outline staffing, construction timelines, tunnel configuration, and operational details that were not previously public.
Newly released bidding documents have shed light on how Elon Musk’s Boring Company plans to connect Universal Orlando Resort’s north campus to Universal Epic Universe.
The materials outline staffing, construction timelines, tunnel configuration, and operational details that were not previously public about the planned Loop system.
The Shingle Creek Transit & Utility Community Development District voted Feb. 11 to begin contract negotiations with The Boring Company after ranking it the top bidder for the Universal Orlando transport project. Now, evaluation documents obtained by local news media reveal how the company intends to execute the project, according to Attraction Insight.
The proposal describes a twin-tunnel configuration, with one tunnel in each direction. It also noted that permitting, design, and construction could take roughly a year and a half once approvals are secured. The company indicated it could deploy multiple tunnel boring machines and install temporary support infrastructure, including muck storage pits and stormwater systems, during construction.
Bid documents list eight internal specialists assigned to the project, including tunnel engineers, structural engineers, and tunnel boring machine experts. Six subcontractors would handle fire protection, communications, soil treatment, and concrete work.
The company stated it “has the necessary internally produced tunneling equipment and personnel immediately available to complete this project for the district as quickly as permits and approvals can be obtained.”
Operationally, the system would mirror the company’s Las Vegas Loop model, using Tesla vehicles to provide point-to-point transport rather than fixed-route buses. The proposal frames the concept as “on-demand, express transportation,” with vehicles dispatched as needed and capacity adjustable in real time.
Stations could be built underground or above ground with ramp access into tunnels. The documents also referenced potential future integration of a configurable Robovan for passengers and cargo, though capacity projections for the Orlando tunnels have not yet been disclosed.
The proposal states that the Loop can integrate “easily into environmentally sensitive areas,” but it does not provide detailed mitigation plans for Central Florida’s high water table and limestone geology, which is susceptible to sinkholes. The company has stated that it intends to hire an Orlando-based geotechnical firm to evaluate soil conditions.
News
Tesla Giga Berlin dispute against IG Metall union leads to investigation
As per a report from rbb24, police seized a laptop belonging to an IG Metall member at Tesla Giga Berlin on Tuesday afternoon.
German authorities have opened an investigation into an IG Metall union representative following allegations that a confidential works council meeting at Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin was secretly recorded. The probe follows a criminal complaint filed by Tesla management last week.
As per a report from rbb24, police seized a laptop belonging to an IG Metall member at Tesla Giga Berlin on Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors in Frankfurt (Oder) confirmed that an investigation is underway into a possible unauthorized audio recording of an internal works council meeting.
Under German law, recording a non-public meeting without consent may constitute a criminal offense.
Tesla stated that Gigafactory Berlin employees alerted management after allegedly discovering that an external union representative, who was attending the event as a guest, had recorded the session. Plant manager André Thierig stated in a post on X that the representative was “caught in action,” prompting the company to contact police and file a criminal complaint.
The seized device is now part of the investigation, and authorities will determine whether any unlawful recording had indeed occurred.
IG Metall has denied the accusation. In comments to German media, representatives rejected Tesla’s claim and described the electric vehicle maker’s allegation as an election campaign tactic ahead of upcoming works council elections.
The election at Tesla’s Grünheide plant is scheduled for March 2–4, 2026, with about 11,000 employees being eligible to vote. Regular works council elections in Germany are held every four years between March and May.
The incident comes amid tensions between Tesla and organized labor in Germany. While works councils operate independently from unions, IG Metall has been active at the plant and has previously criticized Tesla’s labor practices. Authorities, for their part, have not yet announced whether charges will be filed, though the investigation remains ongoing.





