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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket back in action after a three-year hiatus
Update: The US Space Systems Command says that SpaceX’s first direct launch to geosynchronous orbit was a “simply outstanding” success, safely deploying several satellites more than 36,000 kilometers (~22,400 mi) above the Earth’s surface.
The success of the US Space Force’s USSF-44 mission means that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is now one of just a handful of operational rockets in the world that has demonstrated the ability to launch satellites directly to geosynchronous orbit. More importantly, it’s one of just three US rockets with that established capability. The other two rockets – ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV – will cease to be available for US military missions by the end of 2023, meaning that Falcon Heavy may briefly become the only rocket in the world able to launch certain US military missions until ULA’s next-generation Vulcan rocket is ready to prove itself.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy has continued a streak of successful dual-booster landings during its first attempted launch directly to geosynchronous orbit, a mission that was also the rocket’s first launch in more than three years.
Known as USSF-44 and initially scheduled to launch more than two years ago, the US Space Force mission finally lifted off on November 1st, 2022 after relentless payload delays. By mid-2021, the hardware required for SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019 – mainly three new first-stage boosters – had finished qualification testing and been shipped to Florida in anticipation of a late-2021 or early-2022 launch. That launch never came.
Only in November 2022 did most or all of USSF-44’s payloads finally come together, resulting in a gap of more than 40 months between Falcon Heavy launches as practically every other payload assigned to the rocket in the interim experience their own significant delays. Regardless, on November 1st, Falcon Heavy lifted off for the fourth time and performed flawlessly for the nine minutes the US Space Force allowed SpaceX’s webcast to continue.
Over the course of those nine minutes, Falcon Heavy’s twin side boosters – both flying for the first time – helped send the rest of the rocket on its way to space before separating from the center core, upper stage, and payload to boost back towards the Florida coast. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, they safely touched down seconds apart at SpaceX’s LZ-1 and LZ-2 landing zones. Lacking grid fins or landing legs, Falcon Heavy’s intentionally-expendable center core (middle booster) continued burning for another 90 seconds and only separated from the upper stage after reaching a speed of almost four kilometers per second (8,900 mph) – a new record for a SpaceX rocket booster.
The center core, B1066, was likely obliterated when it reentered Earth’s atmosphere traveling at approximately 50% of orbital velocity. Side boosters B1064 and B1065, however, will be rapidly refurbished for a “future US Space Force mission” that SpaceX – perhaps incorrectly – says could follow USSF-44 as early as “later this year.” Unless SpaceX has received an additional USSF launch contract in secret, the company’s next USSF mission appears to be USSF-67, which the US Space Systems Command reported could launch as early as January 2023 in their latest press release [PDF]. USSF-44 and USSF-67 are technically set to launch in the same US fiscal year but not the same calendar year.
USSF-44 is SpaceX’s first direct geosynchronous launch, meaning that Falcon Heavy is attempting to deliver the US military’s payloads to a circular geosynchronous orbit (GEO) approximately 36,000 kilometers (~22,400 mi) above Earth’s surface. “Geosynchronous” refers to the fact that a spacecraft’s orbital velocity matches Earth’s rotational velocity at that altitude, making it a popular destination for communications and Earth observation satellites that want to observe the same region of Earth all the time. Ordinarily, to simplify the rocket’s job, most GEO-bound satellites are launched into an elliptical geosynchronous or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and use their own propulsion to circularize that ellipse.
On a direct-to-GEO launch, the rocket does almost all of the work. After reaching a parking orbit in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Falcon Heavy’s upper stage likely completed a second burn to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Then, while conducting a complex ballet of thermal management and tank pressure maintenance to prevent all of its cryogenic liquid oxygen (LOx) from boiling into gas and its refined kerosene (RP-1) from freezing into an unusable slush, the upper stage must coast ‘uphill’ for around five or six hours.
Over that journey from an altitude of about 300 kilometers to 36,000 kilometers, in addition to the above tasks, the upper stage must also survive passes through both of Earth’s radiation belts. At apogee, Falcon S2 must reignite its Merlin Vacuum engine for around one or two minutes to reach a circular geosynchronous orbit. Payload deployment will follow and could last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. Finally, to be a dutiful space tenant, Falcon’s upper stage must complete at least one or two more burns to reach its final destination: a graveyard orbit a few hundred kilometers above GEO.
SpaceX’s third Falcon Heavy launch, a US Air Force mission called STP-2, was a partial dry-run of direct-to-GEO launch – albeit in low Earth orbit (LEO) instead of LEO, GTO, and GEO. During STP-2, Falcon Heavy’s upper stage completed four successful burns in three and a half hours. USSF-44 is significantly more challenging by most measures but not entirely outside of SpaceX’s range of experience. In addition to STP-2, Falcon 9 upper stages have conducted a few long-duration coast tests after completing unrelated primary missions.
In statements made to Spaceflight Now, the US Space Systems Command said that USSF-44’s two main payloads are a pair of propulsive kick stages and payload platforms, one – LDPE-2 – supplied by Northrop Grumman and the other – the “Shepherd Demonstration” – a mystery. LDPE-2 will reportedly carry three hosted payloads and deploy three rideshare satellites: likely two Lockheed Martin LINUSS-A cubesats and Millenium Space Systems’ TETRA-1. All three rideshare satellites are designed to demonstrate various new technologies, ranging from propulsion systems to avionics.
Rewatch SpaceX’s USSF-44 Falcon Heavy launch here.
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Tesla Robotaxi app update now tells riders if Cybercab is the better choice
Tesla’s Robotaxi app now shows ETAs, wait times and availability for Cybercab and Model Y.
Tesla has rolled out a new vehicle selection screen in its Robotaxi app, and it puts the numbers riders care about most in front of them before they book.
Version 26.11.0 of the app shows the estimated arrival time, the expected wait and current availability for each vehicle option on a single screen, according to a video shared by @gheeunit on X on November 7. Riders deciding between a Cybercab and a Model Y Robotaxi can now compare those figures side by side instead of picking a car first and learning how long it will take afterward.
Tesla first gave riders that choice on September 3, the day paid Cybercab rides began in Austin. The original version of the screen listed the Cybercab, which seats two, next to the Model Y, which seats four. A later build, 26.8.2, added a seating capacity indicator so groups knew which car would fit them. What it did not show was whether choosing the Cybercab meant standing on the curb a few extra minutes.
Newest version of @robotaxi app has a new vehicle selector UI for choosing between Cybercab and Model Y and shows you the fare for both simultaneously! https://t.co/7qoDQ0vACX — mantequilla 🧈 (@gheeunit) November 7, 2026
That question matters more now than it did two months ago. Tesla had 45 Cybercabs on the Texas DMV roster when rides started. By late October the state listed 573, alongside 631 Model Ys, and community trackers logged a record 1,576 Cybercab sightings across Austin on Halloween alone. With two large fleets sharing one service area, the closest car and the quickest pickup are not always the same vehicle.
Inline availability also changes what happens when demand spikes. If no Cybercab is free nearby, the rider sees that on the selection screen rather than after trying to book one.
For now the comparison is mostly an Austin feature. Riders in Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth and the Florida markets are still matched with Model Y vehicles, though Tesla said on its third quarter earnings call that Cybercab rides would launch in Dallas this month.
The update follows a steady run of smaller changes to the rider experience. Late last month Tesla brought a quiet mode that blacks out the cabin screen to Model Y Robotaxis after first testing it in the Cybercab, and it has stretched Austin service to run from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.
The Cybercab side of that selection screen is about to get much busier. Elon Musk said this week that Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of 2027 to make room for more Cybercab output, and Tesla has said it is aiming to get Cybercabs to customers by the end of this year.
Tesla has not published official release notes for version 26.11.0.
Tesla is ending Cybertruck production sometime in mid-2027, according to CEO Elon Musk.
Musk made the announcement on X last night, which came as a shock to many. He said that the Cybertruck will end production “to make room for increased Cybercab production” at Gigafactory Texas.
It is a huge blow to the fans of Tesla who have come to love the Cybertruck and identify with it as a symbol of their fandom. It has been the best-selling electric pickup, but it has had an underwhelming sales performance in terms of what was expected. This is mostly due to Tesla not meeting the prices it planned to offer the Cybertruck, as its unveiling and actual release were four years apart.
Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2026
Overall, the responses were mixed. Some fans understood the move toward Cybercab production, especially as Tesla is truly pushing the autonomous future through its Robotaxi platform. However, others did not understand it.
“Damn, how many Cybercabs do you guys need?” one response read. Another said it was “Sad but understandable.”Even analyst Gary Black had responded to the news, stating he hoped Tesla planned to replace it with a traditional pickup design.
It doesn’t seem like that will be the case.
Tesla is so hell-bent on delivering autonomy and eventually providing a driverless service that owning a car seems like an arbitrary idea, according to their thesis. Instead, Cybercabs will be available to pick you up and drop you off on demand, safely, without any human help.
As a result, Tesla has thinned its lineup considerably, and one can only ask where the vehicle lineup goes from here. Eventually, it seems like Cybercab could be the only vehicle that Tesla will sell.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s next Starship flight set to make history on Friday the 13th
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15 and its first ship catch.
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15, the mission the company plans to use for its first attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower.
SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev shared the date on stage at the UP.Summit on Thursday, according to Ars Technica’s Eric Berger, who was in attendance. It is the first launch target to come directly from a SpaceX executive. Until now, the public schedule had relied on FAA air traffic planning slides, which listed Flight 15 for no earlier than November 8 and later November 12. SpaceX has not posted an official mission page yet, and no launch time has been shared.
The date lands inside the window Elon Musk sketched out last month. Speaking at Giga Texas on October 10, Musk said the flight would “probably launch a little bit before Thanksgiving,” as Teslarati reported. On SpaceX’s third quarter earnings call ten days later, he confirmed that Flight 15 would try to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the ship, and put the odds of a successful ship catch at “more likely than not.” SpaceX also aired an animation of the maneuver during that webcast, showing the ship swinging vertical over Starbase before dropping into the tower’s chopsticks.
The hardware is ready. Booster 22 fired all 33 of its Raptor engines for a full duration static fire at Pad 2 on October 25. Ship 42 followed with a single engine burn simulating a deorbit maneuver on October 26 and a 60 second firing of all six engines the next day, according to NASASpaceflight. Ship 42 had already rehearsed the catch in September, when the Pad 2 arms lifted it into position and crews connected the quick disconnect arm while the vehicle hung from the tower.
The remaining hurdle is regulatory. The FAA’s Starship page does not yet list a Flight 15 license. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in October that, after “significant constructive engagement with the FAA,” she expects the license to cover a return to the launch site and a tower catch for both stages. Bringing the ship home means a reentry path that heads toward land, rather than ending over open ocean as every Starship flight so far has.
SpaceX has caught Super Heavy three times, on Flights 5, 7 and 8, but the ship comes back from orbital velocity and has never been caught. Flight 14 on September 28 was the first Starship to reach orbit, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites before splashing down despite an early engine shutdown that Musk blamed on engine computer software.
Musk has called a successful ship catch “the first time that there’s been full recovery of an orbital class rocket,” and he has already named the step after it: a Flight 16 where both the booster and the ship fly again. NASASpaceflight reports that Ship 43, the next vehicle in line, is set for static fire testing in December.
Tesla Robotaxi app update now tells riders if Cybercab is the better choice
Tesla is ending Cybertruck production
