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SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and drone ship wow with sunset, sunrise port returns

Two boosters, two spectacular port returns, one drone ship, two weeks. (Richard Angle)

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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.

Falcon 9 B1060.6 was greeted by a spectacular Florida sunset on its March 26th return to port. (Richard Angle)

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.

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With Starlink-23 under its belt, Falcon 9 B1058 has launched seven times in the last 11 months. (Richard Angle)

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.

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.5 might be the most confusing release ever

With each Full Self-Driving release, I am realistic. I know some things are going to get better, and I know some things will regress slightly. However, these instances of improvements are relatively mild, as are the regressions. Yet, this version has shown me that it contains extremes of both.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.5 hit my car back on Valentine’s Day, February 14, and since I’ve had it, it has become, in my opinion, the most confusing release I’ve ever had.

With each Full Self-Driving release, I am realistic. I know some things are going to get better, and I know some things will regress slightly. However, these instances of improvements are relatively mild, as are the regressions. Yet, this version has shown me that it contains extremes of both.

It has been about three weeks of driving on v14.2.2.5; I’ve used it for nearly every mile traveled since it hit my car. I’ve taken short trips of 10 minutes or less, I’ve taken medium trips of an hour or less, and I’ve taken longer trips that are over 100 miles per leg and are over two hours of driving time one way.

These are my thoughts on it thus far:

Speed Profiles Are a Mixed Bag

Speed Profiles are something Tesla seems to tinker with quite frequently, and each version tends to show a drastic difference in how each one behaves compared to the previous version.

I do a vast majority of my FSD travel using Standard and Hurry modes, although in bad weather, I will scale it back to Chill, and when it’s a congested city on a weekend or during rush hour, I’ll throw it into Mad Max so it takes what it needs.

Early on, Speed Profiles really felt great. This is one of those really subjective parts of the FSD where someone might think one mode travels too quickly, whereas another person might see the identical performance as too slow or just right.

To me, I would like to see more consistency from release to release on them, but overall, things are pretty good. There are no real complaints on my end, as I had with previous releases.

In a past release, Mad Max traveled under the speed limit quite frequently, and I only had that experience because Hurry was acting the same way. I’ve had no instances of that with v14.2.2.5.

Strange Turn Signal Behavior

This is the first Full Self-Driving version where I’ve had so many weird things happen with the turn signals.

Two things come to mind: Using a turn signal on a sharp turn, and ignoring the navigation while putting the wrong turn signal on. I’ve encountered both things on v14.2.2.5.

On my way to the Supercharger, I take a road that has one semi-sharp right-hand turn with a driveway entrance right at the beginning of the turn.

Only recently, with the introduction of v14.2.2.5, have I had FSD put on the right turn signal when going around this turn. It’s obviously a minor issue, but it still happens, and it’s not standard practice:

When sharing this on X, I had Tesla fans (the ones who refuse to acknowledge that the company can make mistakes) tell me that it’s a “valid” behavior that would be taught to anyone who has been “professionally trained” to drive.

Apparently, if you complain about this turn signal, you are also claiming you know more than Tesla engineers…okay.

Nobody in their right mind has ever gone around a sharp turn when driving their car and put on a signal when continuing on the same road. You would put a left turn signal on to indicate you were turning into that driveway if that’s what your intention was.

Like I said, it’s a totally minor issue. However, it’s not really needed, and nor is it normal. If I were in the car with someone who was taking a simple turn on a road they were traveling, and they signaled because the turn was sharp, I’d be scratching my head.

I’ve also had three separate instances of the car completely ignoring the navigation and putting on a signal that is opposite to what the routing says. Really quite strange.

Parking Performance is Still Underwhelming

Parking has been a complaint of mine with FSD for a long time, so much so that it is pretty rare that I allow the vehicle to park itself. More often than not, it is because I want to pick a spot that is relatively isolated.

However, in the times I allow it to pull into a spot, it still does some pretty head-scratching things.

Recently, it tried to back into a spot that was ~60% covered in plowed snow. The snow was piled about six feet high in a Target parking lot.

Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.

A few days later, it tried backing into a spot where someone failed the universal litmus test of returning their shopping cart. Both choices were baffling and required me to manually move the car to a different portion of the lot.

I used Autopark on both occasions, and it did a great job of getting into the spot. I notice that the parking performance when I manually choose the spot is much better than when the car does the entire parking process, meaning choosing the spot and parking in it.

It’s Doing Things (For Me) It’s Never Done Before

Two things that FSD has never done before, at least for me, are slow down in School Zones and avoid deer. The first is something I usually take over manually, and the second I surprisingly have not had to deal with yet.

I had my Tesla slow down at a school zone yesterday for the first time, traveling at 20 MPH and not 15 MPH as the sign suggested, but at the speed of other cars in the School Zone. This was impressive and the first time I experienced it.

I would like to see this more consistently, and I think School Zones should be one of those areas where, no matter what, FSD will only travel the speed limit.

Last night, FSD v14.2.2.5 recognized a deer in a roadside field and slowed down for it:

Navigation Still SUCKS

Navigation will be a complaint until Tesla proves it can fix it. For now, it’s just terrible.

It still has not figured out how to leave my neighborhood. I give it the opportunity to prove me wrong each time I leave my house, and it just can’t do it.

It always tries to go out of the primary entrance/exit of the neighborhood when the route needs to take me left, even though that exit is a right turn only. I always leave a voice prompt for Tesla about it.

It still picks incredibly baffling routes for simple navigation. It’s the one thing I still really want Tesla to fix.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla gets tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm on self-driving prowess

“Tesla is at the forefront of autonomous driving, supported by a camera-only approach that is technically harder but much cheaper than the multi-sensor systems widely used in the industry. This strategy should allow Tesla to scale more profitably compared to Robotaxi competitors, helped by a growing data engine from its existing fleet,” BoA wrote.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla received a tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm Bank of America on Wednesday, as it reinitiated coverage on Tesla shares with a bullish stance that comes with a ‘Buy’ rating and a $460 price target.

In a new note that marks a sharp reversal from its neutral position earlier in 2025, the bank declared Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology the “leading consumer autonomy solution.”

Analysts highlighted Tesla’s camera-only architecture, known as Tesla Vision, as a strategic masterstroke. While technically more challenging than the multi-sensor setups favored by rivals, the vision-based approach is dramatically cheaper to produce and maintain.

This cost edge, combined with Tesla’s rapidly expanding real-world data engine, positions the company to scale robotaxis far more profitably than competitors, BofA argues in the new note:

“Tesla is at the forefront of autonomous driving, supported by a camera-only approach that is technically harder but much cheaper than the multi-sensor systems widely used in the industry. This strategy should allow Tesla to scale more profitably compared to Robotaxi competitors, helped by a growing data engine from its existing fleet.”

The bank now attributes roughly 52% of Tesla’s total valuation to its Robotaxi ambitions. It also flagged meaningful upside from the Optimus humanoid robot program and the fast-growing energy storage business, suggesting the auto segment’s recent headwinds, including expired incentives, are being eclipsed by these higher-margin opportunities.

Tesla’s own data underscores exactly why Wall Street is waking up to FSD’s potential. According to Tesla’s official safety reporting page, the FSD Supervised fleet has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles driven.

Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles

That total ballooned from just 6 million miles in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and a staggering 4.25 billion in 2025 alone. In the first 50 days of 2026, owners added another 1 billion miles — averaging more than 20 million miles per day.

This avalanche of real-world, camera-captured footage, much of it on complex city streets, gives Tesla an unmatched training dataset. Every mile feeds its neural networks, accelerating improvement cycles that lidar-dependent rivals simply cannot match at scale.

Tesla owners themselves will tell you the suite gets better with every release, bringing new features and improvements to its self-driving project.

The $460 target implies roughly 15 percent upside from recent trading levels around $400. While regulatory and safety hurdles remain, BofA’s endorsement signals growing institutional conviction that Tesla’s data advantage is not hype; it’s a tangible moat already delivering billions of miles of proof.

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Tesla to discuss expansion of Samsung AI6 production plans: report

Tesla has reportedly requested an additional 24,000 wafers per month, which would bring total production capacity to around 40,000 wafers if finalized.

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Tesla-Chips-HW3-1
Credit: Tom Cross

Tesla is reportedly discussing an expansion of its next-generation AI chip supply deal with Samsung Electronics. 

As per a report from Korean industry outlet The Elec, Tesla purchasing executives are reportedly scheduled to meet Samsung officials this week to negotiate additional production volume for the company’s upcoming AI6 chip.

Industry sources cited in the report stated that Tesla is pushing to increase the production volume of its AI6 chip, which will be manufactured using Samsung’s 2-nanometer process.

Tesla previously signed a long-term foundry agreement with Samsung covering AI6 production through December 31, 2033. The deal was reportedly valued at about 22.8 trillion won (roughly $16–17 billion).

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Under the existing agreement, Tesla secured approximately 16,000 wafers per month from the facility. The company has reportedly requested an additional 24,000 wafers per month, which would bring total production capacity to around 40,000 wafers if finalized.

Tesla purchasing executives are expected to discuss detailed supply terms during their visit to Samsung this week.

The AI6 chip is expected to support several Tesla technologies. Industry sources stated that the chip could be used for the company’s Full Self-Driving system, the Optimus humanoid robot, and Tesla’s internal AI data centers.

The report also indicated that AI6 clusters could replace the role previously planned for Tesla’s Dojo AI supercomputer. Instead of a single system, multiple AI6 chips would be combined into server-level clusters.

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Tesla’s semiconductor collaboration with Samsung dates back several years. Samsung participated in the design of Tesla’s HW3 (AI3) chip and manufactured it using a 14-nanometer process. The HW4 chip currently used in Tesla vehicles was also produced by Samsung using a 5-nanometer node.

Tesla previously planned to split production of its AI5 chip between Samsung and TSMC. However, the company reportedly chose Samsung as the primary partner for the newer AI6 chip.

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