SpaceX
SpaceX static fires Falcon 9 for West Coast pad’s second booster landing ever
SpaceX has completed a static fire of Falcon 9 ahead of the company’s second California launch of 2019, also set to include the second ever use of SpaceX’s West Coast landing zone, known as LZ-4.
In a rare event, the Radarsat Constellation Mission’s (RCM) launch was expedited approximately five days to January 12th. Minor delays during prelaunch processing have pushed RCM back 24 hours and liftoff is now scheduled for 7:17 am PT (14:17 UTC, June 12th. Assigned to the mission is booster B1051.2, tasked with supporting Crew Dragon’s orbital launch debut on March 2nd, roughly 100 days prior.
As previously discussed on Teslarati, RCM’s journey to launch has been exceptionally arduous for a SpaceX mission, involving more than half a year of delays as a result of equally exceptional anomalies and requirements.
“Once the three RCM satellites were effectively complete, a series of unfortunate circumstances combined to delay the constellation’s launch almost indefinitely. The first domino fell in December 2018, when Falcon 9 Block 5 booster B1050 – having successfully supported Cargo Dragon’s CRS-16 launch – suffered a failure that prevented a successful landing. Incredibly, the booster did survive its accidental Atlantic Ocean landing and is now sitting in a SpaceX hangar, but B1050 is unlikely to ever fly again.
In short, had Maxar/CSA waited for a new booster, RCM’s launch would likely be delayed at least another 30-60 days beyond its current target of June 11th. Instead, they downselected to Falcon 9 B1051, then in the midst of several months of prelaunch preparations for Crew Dragon’s launch debut (DM-1). DM-1 went off without a hitch in early March, after which the gently-used B1051 underwent a brisk ~45 days of inspection and refurbishment before heading west to SpaceX’s VAFB launch pad.”
98 days after B1051’s launch and landing debut, the reintegrated rocket ignited all nine of its Merlin 1D engines for a handful of seconds, paving the way for the vehicle’s second launch – this time supporting three radar satellites instead of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Due to the fact that the three RCM satellites – $400M over budget for a total cost of >$1B – represent no less than 3-5 years of Canadian Space Agency’s entire annual budget, mission assurance is exceptionally desirable for both the customer and launch provider.
A lot of that “mission assurance” can often take the shape of practices that could be accurately described as ritualistic, but many additional (and time-consuming) tweaks can be added to – at a minimum – raise the customer’s confidence in the likelihood of success. That can often be as simple as triple-checking instead of double-checking (just an analogy) but it can quickly gain complexity as statistical models of risk and more substantial changes are thrown into the mix
Complexities aside, things are looking good as SpaceX enters into the final stages of launch preparations. All three satellites – weighing ~4300 kg (9500 lb) total – have been encapsulated inside the payload fairing, B1051 has completed a routine wet dress rehearsal and static fire, and SpaceX technicians are likely attaching the fairing to the integrated Falcon 9 as we speak. Meanwhile, despite an apparent regulation preventing SpaceX from landing boosters at its Californian LZ-4 pad during harbor seal pupping season (“March to June”), B1051 is expected to land at LZ-4 and drone ship Just Read The Instructions remains in port.
As per usual, SpaceX will offer live coverage of the launch from roughly T-15 minutes to spacecraft separation. Tune in around 7am PT (14:00 UTC), June 12th.
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Cybertruck
Tesla Cybertruck fleet takes over at SpaceX’s Starbase
Interestingly, the Cybertruck uses the same exterior, a stainless steel alloy, as SpaceX rockets. This synergy between the two companies and their very different products shows a very unified mentality between Musk companies.
Tesla Cybertrucks have taken over at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, as hundreds of the all-electric pickup trucks were spotted late last week rounding out a massive fleet of vehicles.
The Cybertruck fleet is geared toward replacing gas vehicles that are used at Starbase for everyday operations. The only surprise about this is that it was not done sooner:
Was just visiting. pic.twitter.com/5Q9wPPaeuH
— Derek Li (@derek1ee) October 31, 2025
Deliveries have been going on for a few weeks, as Cybertrucks have made their way across the state of Texas from Austin to Starbase so they could be included in SpaceX’s fleet of vehicles at the facility.
Interestingly, the Cybertruck uses the same exterior, a stainless steel alloy, as SpaceX rockets. This synergy between the two companies and their very different products shows a very unified mentality between Musk companies.
However, there are some other perspectives to consider as SpaceX is utilizing such a massive fleet of Cybertrucks. Some media outlets (unsurprisingly) are seeing this as a move of weakness by both Tesla and SpaceX, as the aerospace company is, in a sense, “bailing out” lagging sales for the all-electric pickup.
It’s no secret that Tesla has struggled with the Cybertruck this year, and deliveries have been underwhelming in the sense that the company was anticipating between 1 million and 2 million orders for the vehicle before it was widely produced.
A lot of things changed with the Cybertruck between its 2019 unveiling and 2023 initial deliveries, most notably, price.
The price of the Cybertruck swelled significantly and priced out many of those who had pre-ordered it. Some have weighed the option of whether this purchase was a way to get rid of sitting inventory.
However, it seems more logical to consider the fact that SpaceX was likely always going to transition to Teslas for its fleet, especially at Starship, at some point.
It doesn’t seem out of the question that one Musk company would utilize another Musk company’s products, especially considering the Cybertruck has been teased as the vehicle that would be present on Mars.
News
SpaceX successfully launches 100th Starlink mission of 2025
With 100 Starlink missions completed for 2025, space enthusiasts have noted that SpaceX has successfully launched 2,554 Starlink satellites so far this year.
SpaceX achieved its 100th Starlink mission of the year on Friday, October 31, marking another milestone for 2025.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink broadband satellites successfully lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:41 p.m. ET, carrying another 28 Starlink satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Falcon 9 booster’s 29th flight
Roughly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage touched down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. This marked the booster’s 29th flight, which is approaching SpaceX’s reuse record of 31 missions.
This latest mission adds to SpaceX’s impressive 138 Falcon 9 launches in 2025, 99 of which were dedicated to Starlink, according to Space.com. The company’s focus on reusing boosters has enabled this breakneck pace, with multiple launches each week supporting both Starlink’s expansion and external customers.
Starlink’s network continues massive global expansion
Starlink remains the largest active satellite constellation in history, with more than 10,000 satellites launched, nearly 8,800 of which are currently active. SpaceX recently achieved Starlink’s 10,000-satellite milestone. With 100 Starlink missions completed for 2025, space enthusiasts have noted that SpaceX has successfully launched 2,554 Starlink satellites so far this year.
Starlink, which provides high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity even to the world’s most remote areas, has been proven to be life-changing technology for people across the globe. The service is currently operational in about 150 countries, and it currently has over 5 million subscribers worldwide. From this number, 2.7 million joined over the past year.
SpaceX
SpaceX checks off 49 lunar lander milestones in push toward Artemis III
SpaceX has revealed that it has completed 49 major milestones for NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, marking significant progress in the development of the Starship lunar lander that will deliver astronauts to the Moon.
The updates were detailed in SpaceX’s new blog post To the Moon and Beyond, which was recently posted on the private space company’s official website.
As noted by SpaceX, the 49 milestones that were completed by its HLS team were “tied to developing the subsystems, infrastructure, and operations” needed to safely land humans back into the lunar surface. SpaceX noted that it has only received funding on contractual milestones that have been successfully completed, the vast majority of which have been achieved on time or ahead of schedule.
Following are highlights of SpaceX’s completed milestones, as per the company’s post.
For the first time in our existence, we possess the means, technology, and, for the moment, the will to establish a permanent human presence beyond Earth. Starship is designed to make this future a reality → https://t.co/dGAZiB4rr3 pic.twitter.com/WsTg44G3oz — SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 30, 2025
- Lunar environmental control and life support and thermal control system demonstrations, using a full-scale cabin module inhabited by multiple people to test the capability to inject oxygen and nitrogen into the cabin environment and accurately manage air distribution and sanitation, along with humidity and thermal control. The test series also measured the acoustic environments inside the cabin
- Docking adapter qualification of the docking system that will link Starship and Orion in space, an androgynous SpaceX docking system capable of serving as the active system or passive system and based on the flight-proven Dragon 2 active docking system
- Landing leg drop test of a full-scale article at flight energies onto simulated lunar regolith to verify system performance and to study foot-to-regolith interaction
- Raptor lunar landing throttle test demonstrating a representative thrust profile that would allow Starship to land on the lunar surface
- Micrometeoroid and orbital debris testing of shielding, insulation, and window panels, analyzing different material stackups that will be used to protect Starship from impact hazards and harsh thermal conditions
- Landing software, sensor, and radar demonstrations testing navigation and sensing hardware and software that will be used by Starship to locate and safely descend to a precise landing site on the Moon
- Software architecture review to define the schematic of major vehicle control processes, what physical computers they will run on, and software functions for critical systems like fault detection, caution and warning alerts, and command and telemetry control
- Raptor cold start demonstrations using both sea-level and vacuum-optimized Raptor engines that are pre-chilled prior to startup to simulate the thermal conditions experienced after an extended time in space
- Integrated lunar mission operations plan review, covering how SpaceX and NASA will conduct integrated operations, develop flight rules and crew procedures, and the high-level mission operation plan
- Depot power module demonstration, testing prototype electrical power generation and distribution systems planned to be used on the propellant depot variant of Starship
- Ground segment and radio frequency (RF) communications demonstration, testing the capability to send and receive RF communications between a flight-equivalent ground station and a flight-equivalent vehicle RF system
- Elevator and airlock demonstration, which was conducted in concert with Axiom to utilize flight-representative pressurized EVA suits, to practice full operation of the crew elevator which will be used to transfer crew and cargo between Starship and the lunar surface
- Medical system demonstration covering the crew medical system on Starship and the telemedicine capability between the ground and crew
- Hardware in the loop testbed activation for the propellant transfer flight test which uses a testbed with flight representative hardware to run simulations for the upcoming propellant transfer flight test
Ultimately, SpaceX’s message is clear. With its plans for a simplified architecture, the timeframe of the first crewed lunar landing of the current century could happen sooner than expected.
Musk definitely seems determined to prove skeptics wrong, with the CEO declaring on X that Starship will be the vehicle that would pave the way for the buildout of a base on the Moon. “Starship will build Moonbase Alpha,” Musk wrote.
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