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SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and drone ship wow with sunset, sunrise port returns
With two back-to-back Starlink launches, SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) has returned to port twice in two weeks with Falcon 9 boosters and some of the most beautiful sunrise and sunset backdrops yet seen.
Two days after its sixth successful launch and drone ship landing, Falcon 9 booster B1060 sailed into Port Canaveral on OCISLY around sunset on March 26th. Two weeks later, the same drone ship returned to port once again, this time carrying Falcon 9 booster B1058 back to land after a flawless seventh launch and landing and near-record-breaking 27-day turnaround.
Virtually identical beyond the boosters that launched them, both B1060 and B1058 were tasked with supporting two missions to deliver batches of 60 new Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Of the ten launches SpaceX has completed in 2021, eight have been Starlink missions, altogether placing 490 satellites weighing almost 130 metric tons (290,000 lb) into orbit.
Incredibly, Falcon 9 B1058 and B1060 alone have been responsible for six of those ten launches, making the pair – in no uncertain terms – the shining workhorses of SpaceX’s rocket fleet. Put in a slightly different way, SpaceX is now regularly flying multiple Falcon boosters on an almost monthly basis. With just a handful of similarly-capable boosters, SpaceX could feasibly achieve 60+ Starlink launches annually while still maintaining an almost secondary fleet of (relatively) lightly-used boosters for customer missions.
As it turns out, SpaceX already has three once-flown Falcon 9 boosters of the same age (batch?) as B1058 and B1060 – at least two of which are waiting for crucial flight-proven debuts for NASA and the US military. After acing Crew Dragon’s operational Crew-1 astronaut launch debut last November, B1061 is scheduled to become the first flight-proven liquid rocket booster to launch astronauts with NASA’s Crew-2 mission on April 22nd. B1062, having successfully launched the US military’s GPS III SV04 navigation satellite in November 2020, is scheduled to launch a second GPS III satellite in July 2021 – a first for the US military.
Meanwhile, Falcon 9 B1063 may have been transported from California to Florida after successfully launching NASA and ESA’s Sentinel 6A Earth observation satellite and completing SpaceX’s first Vandenberg launch in almost 18 months – also in November 2020. If all three of those new once-flown boosters were to enter SpaceX’s general-purpose fleet after their next major customer missions and prove to be as low-maintenance as B1058 and B1060, those five rockets alone could potentially support an annual cadence of 50-60+ Starlink launches.
It’s also possible that – having finally seen the clear viability of flight-proven rockets writ large – NASA and the US military will effectively choose to keep B1061, B1062, and possibly B1063 primarily in-house, so to speak. Depending on their contracts, by paying SpaceX a premium or forgoing discounts for flight-proven first stages, both could feasibly ensure that those boosters remain mostly (or totally) exclusive to NASA or US military missions.
Ultimately, whether SpaceX gets to add those comparatively new boosters to its Starlink and commercial fleet, B1058 and B1060 show no signs of stopping and – perhaps alongside B1049 and B1051 – could easily sail past their ten-flight milestones before the year is out. Many, many more spectacular drone ship recoveries to come, in other words.
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Tesla China exports 50,644 vehicles in January, up sharply YoY
The figure also places Tesla China second among new energy vehicle exporters for the month, behind BYD.
Tesla China exported 50,644 vehicles in January, as per data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
This marks a notable increase both year-on-year and month-on-month for the American EV maker’s Giga Shanghai-built Model 3 and Model Y. The figure also places Tesla China second among new energy vehicle exporters for the month, behind BYD.
The CPCA’s national passenger car market analysis report indicated that total New Energy Vehicle exports reached 286,000 units in January, up 103.6% from a year earlier. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 65% of those exports.
Within that total, Tesla China shipped 50,644 vehicles overseas. By comparison, exports of Giga Shanghai-built Model 3 and Model Y units totaled 29,535 units in January last year and just 3,328 units in December.
This suggests that Tesla China’s January 2026 exports were roughly 1.7 times higher than the same month a year ago and more than 15 times higher than December’s level, as noted in a TechWeb report.
BYD still led the January 2026 export rankings with 96,859 new energy passenger vehicles shipped overseas, though it should be noted that the automaker operates at least nine major production facilities in China, far outnumering Tesla. Overall, BYD’s factories in China have a domestic production capacity for up to 5.82 million units annually as of 2024.
Tesla China followed in second place, ahead of Geely, Chery, Leapmotor, SAIC Motor, and SAIC-GM-Wuling, each of which exported significant volumes during the month. Overall, new energy vehicles accounted for nearly half of China’s total passenger vehicle exports in January, hinting at strong overseas demand for electric cars produced in the country.
China remains one of Tesla China’s most important markets. Despite mostly competing with just two vehicles, both of which are premium priced, Tesla China is still proving quite competitive in the domestic electric vehicle market.
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Tesla adds a new feature to Navigation in preparation for a new vehicle
After CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this week that the Semi’s mass production processes were scheduled for later this year, the company has been making various preparations as it nears manufacturing.
Tesla has added a new feature to its Navigation and Supercharger Map in preparation for a new vehicle to hit the road: the Semi.
After CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this week that the Semi’s mass production processes were scheduled for later this year, the company has been making various preparations as it nears manufacturing.
Elon Musk confirms Tesla Semi will enter high-volume production this year
One of those changes has been the newly-released information regarding trim levels, as well as reports that Tesla has started to reach out to customers regarding pricing information for those trims.
Now, Tesla has made an additional bit of information available to the public in the form of locations of Megachargers, the infrastructure that will be responsible for charging the Semi and other all-electric Class 8 vehicles that hit the road.
Tesla made the announcement on the social media platform X:
We put Semi Megachargers on the map
→ https://t.co/Jb6p7OPXMi pic.twitter.com/stwYwtDVSB
— Tesla Semi (@tesla_semi) February 10, 2026
Although it is a minor development, it is a major indication that Tesla is preparing for the Semi to head toward mass production, something the company has been hinting at for several years.
Nevertheless, this, along with the other information that was released this week, points toward a significant stride in Tesla’s progress in the Semi project.
Now that the company has also worked toward completion of the dedicated manufacturing plant in Sparks, Nevada, there are more signs than ever that the vehicle is finally ready to be built and delivered to customers outside of the pilot program that has been in operation for several years.
For now, the Megachargers are going to be situated on the West Coast, with a heavy emphasis on routes like I-5 and I-10. This strategy prioritizes major highways and logistics hubs where freight traffic is heaviest, ensuring coverage for both cross-country and regional hauls.
California and Texas are slated to have the most initially, with 17 and 19 sites, respectively. As the program continues to grow, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Washington, New York, and Nevada will have Megacharger locations as well.
For now, the Megachargers are available in Lathrop, California, and Sparks, Nevada, both of which have ties to Tesla. The former is the location of the Megafactory, and Sparks is where both the Tesla Gigafactory and Semifactory are located.
Elon Musk
Tesla stock gets latest synopsis from Jim Cramer: ‘It’s actually a robotics company’
“Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session,” Cramer said.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) got its latest synopsis from Wall Street analyst Jim Cramer, who finally realized something that many fans of the company have known all along: it’s not a car company. Instead, it’s a robotics company.
In a recent note that was released after Tesla reported Earnings in late January, Cramer seemed to recognize that the underwhelming financials and overall performance of the automotive division were not representative of the current state of affairs.
Instead, we’re seeing a company transition itself away from its early identity, essentially evolving like a caterpillar into a butterfly.
The narrative of the Earnings Call was simple: We’re not a car company, at least not from a birds-eye view. We’re an AI and Robotics company, and we are transitioning to this quicker than most people realize.
Tesla stock gets another analysis from Jim Cramer, and investors will like it
Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call featured plenty of analysis from CEO Elon Musk and others, and some of the more minor details of the call were even indicative of a company that is moving toward AI instead of its cars. For example, the Model S and Model X will be no more after Q2, as Musk said that they serve relatively no purpose for the future.
Instead, Tesla is shifting its focus to the vehicles catered for autonomy and its Robotaxi and self-driving efforts.
Cramer recognizes this:
“…we got results from Tesla, which actually beat numbers, but nobody cares about the numbers here, as electric vehicles are the past. And according to CEO Elon Musk, the future of this company comes down to Cybercabs and humanoid robots. Stock fell more than 3% the next day. That may be because their capital expenditures budget was higher than expected, or maybe people wanted more details from the new businesses. At this point, I think Musk acolytes might be more excited about SpaceX, which is planning to come public later this year.”
He continued, highlighting the company’s true transition away from vehicles to its Cybercab, Optimus, and AI ambitions:
“I know it’s hard to believe how quickly this market can change its attitude. Last night, I heard a disastrous car company speak. Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session. I didn’t like it as a car company. Boy, I love it as a Cybercab and humanoid robot juggernaut. Call me a buyer and give me five robots while I’m at it.”
Cramer’s narrative seems to fit that of the most bullish Tesla investors. Anyone who is labeled a “permabull” has been echoing a similar sentiment over the past several years: Tesla is not a car company any longer.
Instead, the true focus is on the future and the potential that AI and Robotics bring to the company. It is truly difficult to put Tesla shares in the same group as companies like Ford, General Motors, and others.
Tesla shares are down less than half a percent at the time of publishing, trading at $423.69.
Tesla China exports 50,644 vehicles in January, up sharply YoY
Tesla adds a new feature to Navigation in preparation for a new vehicle
