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SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket rolls to pad for Tuesday launch, dual booster landing
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket has rolled out to Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A for its first launch (and dual booster landing) in almost three and a half years.
Missing its payload fairing and the US Space Force’s classified USSF-44 payload, SpaceX’s fourth Falcon Heavy rocket rolled out to Pad 39A for the first time on October 25th. On the 27th, the rocket successfully fired up all 27 of its first-stage Merlin 1D engines, reasserting its status as the most powerful operational rocket in the world. On October 30th, SpaceX finally brought Falcon Heavy horizontal and rolled the rocket back to Pad 39A’s integration hangar, where the USSF-44 mission’s several payloads – safely stowed inside a payload fairing – were installed on the rocket.
24 hours later, Falcon Heavy – now fully assembled – departed the hangar again. According to the US Space Systems Command (SSC), despite the exceptionally late rollout on October 31st, SpaceX is on track to launch Falcon Heavy no earlier than (NET) 9:41 am EDT (13:41 UTC) on Tuesday, November 1st.
As previously discussed on Teslarati, USSF-44 will be SpaceX’s first attempt at a direct launch to a geostationary orbit (GEO) some ~36,000 kilometers (~22,400 mi) above Earth’s surface, where spacecraft can hover motionless over their region of choice. To accomplish that feat, Falcon Heavy’s upper stage will need to survive a roughly six-hour coast in the harsh vacuum of space, likely making USSF-44 one of the most challenging missions SpaceX has ever attempted.
“Long orbital coasts of six or so hours are necessary for some of the most challenging launch trajectories. Direct-to-geostationary launches are the most common mission requiring long coast capabilities and are often demanded by the US military. When Falcon’s upper stage gets too cold, its kerosene fuel – which freezes at a much higher temperature than Falcon’s liquid oxygen oxidizer – becomes viscous and slush-like before it becomes solid. If ingested in Falcon’s Merlin Vacuum engine, slushy fuel would likely prevent ignition or outright destroy it.“
Teslarati.com – October 10th, 2022
Simultaneously, while worrying about kerosene fuel getting too cold, SpaceX must also ensure that the Falcon upper stage’s cryogenic liquid oxygen (LOx) oxidizer doesn’t boil into gas. If too much LOx warms up and has to be vented out as it turns to gas, the Falcon upper stage could find itself without enough propellant to complete its geostationary orbit circularization burn.
LOx is far less stable, which makes it a bit ironic that the upper stage’s fuel tank bares the only visible sign of the tweaks needed to survive a long coast. To keep the RP1 fuel warmer in orbit, SpaceX has added a layer of grey paint to the RP1 tank, increasing the amount of heat that can be absorbed through unfiltered sunlight. The uninsulated LOx tank, meanwhile, benefits from the unintuitive fact that a cryogenic liquid can stay liquid for a surprisingly long time because some of it warms up and boils off as a gas, sacrificing a small quantity to keep the rest cool.
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According to the US Space Force, USSF-44 will carry several “various payloads” attached to the second Northrop Grumman “Long Duration Propulsive EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Secondary Payload Adapter” or LDPE-2 – essentially a long-duration kick stage. Cataloged on EverydayAstronaut.com, the payloads include two Lockheed Martin LINUSS-A cubesats that will demonstrate a handful of new technologies and capabilities; TETRA-1, a microsat built by Millenium Space Systems to test on-orbit maneuverability; and a communications satellite prototype called USUVL. Spaceflight Now reports that LPDE-2 will carry three hosted payloads and deploy three satellites.
Finally, a recent Space Systems Command press release [PDF] mentioned a mysterious “Shepard demonstration” – likely a second propulsive kick stage – for the first time, which almost nothing is known about. It’s unclear if there is a main classified satellite the mission revolves around or if USSF-44 is simply a collection of various rideshare payloads headed to GEO.
Regardless, to launch them directly into geostationary orbit, USSF-44 will mark the first time SpaceX intentionally expends a Falcon Heavy booster. Over three previous launches, SpaceX only managed to land a Falcon Heavy center core once, but that core then tipped over and was destroyed at sea. Two other attempts resulted in failed landings. USSF-44 will continue that trend. Falcon Heavy’s twin side boosters will attempt to continue a more positive trend of simultaneous side-by-side landings and boost back to Florida to touch down at SpaceX’s LZ-1 and LZ-2 pads. SpaceX will also attempt to recover both halves of Falcon Heavy’s payload fairing a record-breaking 1410 kilometers (876 mi) off the Florida coast.
SpaceX says weather is 90% favorable for Falcon Heavy’s November 1st launch attempt. Stay tuned for a link to the company’s official webcast.
Elon Musk
Tesla FSD takes owner on a 20,000+ mile joy ride
Tesla owner David Moss just pushed his intervention free FSD streak past 20,000 miles total.
Tesla Model 3 owner David Moss has spent the better part of eight months turning his vehicle into a rolling stress test for Full Self-Driving, and this week he pushed his single, continuous FSD streak past 20,000 miles without a human intervening.
Moss, a Tacoma, Washington resident who sells LiDAR scanning equipment for a living, first drew wide attention in December 2025 when he logged 10,000 consecutive miles on FSD v14.2. Days later he drove from the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, covering 2,732 miles in two days and 20 hours with zero disengagements, the first verified coast to coast autonomous drive in Tesla’s history. Tesla even featured the trip as an official customer story in March. That original streak eventually reached 12,961 miles across 30 states before ending in rural Wisconsin in January, when snow and single digit temperatures forced Moss to take over.
Tesla FSD successfully completes full coast-to-coast drive with zero interventions
He started over, and this run has gone further. In late May, Moss drove 3,760 miles across Canada with two companions, from Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver to a Tesla showroom in Halifax, again without a single intervention, a trip Tesla AI software VP Ashok Elluswamy publicly congratulated him for on X. In June, he pushed the same unbroken streak south, aiming to link the Canadian border to the Mexican border, and crossed 10,000 miles on Tesla’s newly added in car streak counter along the way, the first driver to do so since Tesla began showing confetti animations for the feature.
20,000 Mile Tesla FSD Screen Streak!
Special thank you to @DevinOlsenn, @scotsrule08, & @OwenSparks for helping co drive during all these fun adventures these last couple of months
Also thank you to @wholemars for always tracking me along the journey verifying it all with his… pic.twitter.com/CZ2yO6Ev0X
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) July 27, 2026
It’s worth noting that every mile is logged through the FSD Database, a community run tracker built by Tesla influencer Omar Qazi, well known as @WholeMars on X, that pulls telemetry straight from the car and records disengagements down to a tenth of a mile. That verification is what separates Moss’s numbers from casual claims on social media.
The streak itself is a fairly recent addition to Tesla’s software. FSD v14.2 introduced a Self Driving Stats panel tracking the ratio of autonomous to manual miles, and v14.3.4 added the live streak counter in June, which resets the moment a driver brakes, wrenches the wheel or cancels navigation. Reaching 20,000 miles on that counter means a single Tesla drove itself through countless highways, city grids, construction zones and Supercharger stalls without a single reset.
Moss has said the goal was never to set a record for its own sake, but to show, mile by verified mile, what the software can already do.
Elon Musk told The Economist that artificial intelligence will likely surpass the combined intelligence of every human on Earth within about five years, and that humans may not remain in charge once that happens. In a wide-ranging interview with editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, recorded at Giga Texas for the outlet’s Insider series, Musk compared the widening gap between AI and human intelligence to the gap between humans and chimpanzees.
“It’s hard to imagine that the chimpanzee would be in charge,” he said, addressing what happens to human authority once AI moves far beyond us.
Elon Musk reiterates his most optimistic prediction yet with “UHI” forecast
Musk’s timeline stretches out from there. Five years for AI to out-think humanity combined, ten years before humans lose meaningful control, and by 2036, he says, money itself may stop mattering.
Musk notes that if robots and AI produce more goods and services than people could ever consume, currency loses its purpose. He told Beddoes that governments could respond with direct payments, what he called “universal high income,” a term he first used in an X post last August describing a future where “everyone will have the best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else.”
There will be universal high income (not merely basic income).
Everyone will have the best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else.
Sustainable abundance.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2025
He also floated a more surprising prediction that deflation, and not inflation, would become the bigger economic problem, since expanding the supply of goods and services faster than the money supply grows would push prices down rather than up.
None of this is new territory for Musk, who has spent years describing an “age of abundance” built on Optimus and autonomous vehicles. What’s notable is the timing. The interview landed the same week Tesla shares dropped roughly 19 percent following a second quarter earnings report that beat on revenue but missed badly on profit, and as SpaceX stock continues to slide from its post-IPO peak.
Musk’s own net worth has fallen close to $700 billion since mid-June, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, even as he describes a future where personal wealth stops being the point.
Musk did not dodge the risk side of the equation either. He put the odds of AI contributing to human extinction somewhere in the 10 to 20 percent range, then arrived at what he called his “philosophical conclusion” since the technology cannot realistically be stopped and the arguably better response is to keep building it and hope the outcome leans toward abundance rather than catastrophe. “I’ve gone from exhilaration to terror regarding AI,” he told Beddoes, “even intraday.”
Tesla is adding a new “Traction Control Modes” feature to its cars for better handling in any conditions. These features will roll out to the Model 3 and Model Y, the two vehicles in Tesla’s lineup that typically do not have drive modes for various conditions.
Tesla did include this in the Model S and Model X, as well as the Cybertruck.
The new feature will roll out with the 2026 Summer Update, which Tesla announced last week and subsequently started rolling out to some owners today. The Summer Update is the latest iteration of the usual four seasonal releases the company rolls out throughout the year. These releases typically feature some owner-requested features, as well as improvements to things like the Full Self-Driving suite.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
This release is no different. Among the changes are improvements to Navigation, new customization options with wraps and how they can be shared and stored, more functionality with the Tesla smartphone app, and new gamification with self-driving.
However, Tesla announced today that it was adding another feature to the Summer Update. Traction Control Modes will now be available with the release
Tesla describes them:
“Choose from three updated Traction Control Modes: Auto for normal driving conditions, Slippery Surface for icy or wet roads, Stuck Assist when stuck in snow, mud, or sand. The mode resets to Auto at the start of each drive. To select, go to Controls > Dynamics > Traction Control Mode.”
Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update also includes new Traction Control Modes
📸: @PatchesHQ https://t.co/N9cD2lGP14 pic.twitter.com/ogLC5ROIgc
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 26, 2026
The use of these modes will help improve a Tesla’s overall performance in less-than-ideal conditions. Typically, these traction control modes monitor wheel speed through sensors and track engine power to adjust responsiveness in various conditions.
These drive modes are not an ultimate solution to all driving conditions; just because there is a “Stuck Assist,” doesn’t mean your Tesla will dig itself out of a foot-and-a-half trench during a blizzard. It is important to remember that some of these scenarios also require some assistance from the driver. For example, driving in sand requires tires to be aired down significantly to increase traction and control.
However, this will be a welcome addition for those who use the Full Self-Driving suite and might not be convinced of its performance in adverse conditions. Some of us prefer to be in control in rain, snow, or ice, which is totally understandable. However, adjusting the Traction Control Mode while utilizing FSD in snow, rain, or ice could increase confidence and overall experience.
Tesla’s Summer Update is already rolling out to some owners, so it should be making its way to most of the fleet over the next several weeks. The Spring Update rolled out at a very conservative pace, so if you don’t have it by the end of August, don’t be too upset. It might just be Tesla’s method.
Tesla FSD takes owner on a 20,000+ mile joy ride
Elon Musk explains what happens when AI outsmarts all of us
