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Orbit for all: SpaceX, Shift4 reveal private Crew Dragon launch and ticket raffle
SpaceX and financial company Shift4 have announced what could become the world’s first private orbital astronaut launch – and two of Crew Dragon’s four seats are up for grabs in a public raffle for charity.
Spearheaded by US billionaire and Shift4 founder/CEO Jared Isaacman, the venture has been deemed Inspiration4 and is closely linked with the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and charity. On top of his purchase of a private SpaceX ride to orbit, Isaacman has committed to donate no less than $100 million to the medical non-profit and hopes to raise another ~$200 million by using the extraordinary venture to grab public attention.
Most notably, two of Inspiration4’s four available seats will be raffled at random – one to an individual who donates to St. Jude and the other to someone who starts an online store through Shift4Shop’s (formerly 3dcart) e-commerce platform. In other words, Inspiration4 represents the first time that almost any US resident (and possibly even a non-citizen, according to Elon Musk) has a real opportunity to launch into orbit.
This is the second private Crew Dragon launch firmly announced in recent months. In 2020, Axiom Space revealed that it had purchased a Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 launch to send the world’s first fully private mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Axiom announced the full crew manifest mere days ago and confirmed that the launch had slipped slightly from November or December 2021 to no earlier than (NET) January 2022.
Inspiration4 says it is currently aiming to launch NET Q4 2021, a target that – if kept – would make the venture the world’s first private orbital astronaut launch. Onboard will be Jared Isaacman himself, “a St. Jude ambassador with direct ties to the mission who exemplifies the pillar of Hope as well as the courageous vision upon which St. Jude was founded,” and two semi-random members of the public.
Unlike Axiom’s first contracted launch, Inspiration4 will be a free-flyer mission, meaning that Crew Dragon will serve as its own tiny space station for a reported “2-4 days” before reentering and returning its private astronaut crew back to Earth. This is the second free-flyer Crew Dragon mission announced after Space Adventures revealed an effort to book wealthy passengers to “break the world altitude record for private citizen spaceflight” in February 2020.
Inspiration4 is the fourth serious effort announced to launch private astronauts on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in the last 12 months and is unlikely to be the last. According to Isaacman, SpaceX’s medical screening attitude is focused on how to get someone into orbit, rather than how to ground someone from orbital spaceflight, significantly improving the odds that the ticket raffle will truly be random and that just about anyone will be able to launch on Crew Dragon (and, eventually, Starship) in years to come.
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Tesla extends FSD Supervised ride-alongs in Europe by three months
Needless to say, it does appear that FSD fever is starting to catch in Europe.
Tesla appears to be doubling down on its European Full Self-Driving (Supervised) push, with the company extending its demo ride-along program by three months until the end of March 2026. The update seems to have been implemented due to overwhelming demand.
Needless to say, it does appear that FSD fever is starting to catch in Europe.
Extended FSD demonstrations
Tesla EU Policy and Business Development Manager Ivan Komušanac shared on LinkedIn that the company is offering ride-along experiences in Germany, France and Italy while working toward FSD (Supervised) approval in Europe.
He noted that this provides a great feedback opportunity from the general public, encouraging participants to record and share their experiences. For those unable to book in December, Komušanac teased more slots as “Christmas presents.”
Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt highlighted the extension on X, stating that dates now run from December 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, in multiple cities including Stuttgart-Weinstadt, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf in Germany. This suggests that the FSD ride-along program in Europe has officially been extended until the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Building momentum for European approval
Replies to Merritt’s posts buzzed with excitement, with users like @AuzyMale noting that Cologne and Düsseldorf are already fully booked. This sentiment was echoed by numerous other Tesla enthusiasts on social media. Calls for the program’s expansion to other European territories have also started gaining steam, with some X users suggesting Switzerland and Finland as the next locations for FSD ride-alongs.
Ultimately, the Tesla EU Policy and Business Development Manager’s post aligns with the company’s broader FSD efforts in Europe. As per recent reports, Tesla recently demonstrated FSD’s capabilities for Rome officials. Reporters from media outlets in France and Germany have also published positive reviews of FSD’s capabilities on real-world roads.
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Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
Estimated delivery dates for new Tesla Model Y L orders now extend all the way into February 2026.
The Tesla Model Y L seems to be in high demand in China, with estimated delivery dates for new orders now extending all the way into February 2026.
This suggests that the Model Y L has been officially sold out from the rest of 2025 to January 2026.
Model Y L estimated delivery dates
The Model Y L’s updated delivery dates mark an extension from the vehicle’s previous 4-8 week estimated wait time. A detailed chart shared by Tesla data tracker @Tslachan on X shows the progressions of the Model Y L’s estimated delivery dates since its launch earlier this year.
Following its launch in September, the vehicle was given an initial October 2025 estimated delivery date. The wait times for the vehicle were continually updated over the years, until the middle of November, when the Model Y L had an estimated delivery date of 4-8 weeks. This remained until now, when Tesla China simply listed February 2026 as the estimated delivery date for new Model Y L orders.
Model Y demand in China
Tesla Model Y demand in China seems to be very healthy, even beyond the Model Y L. New delivery dates show the company has already sold out its allocation of the all-electric crossover for 2025. The Model Y has been the most popular vehicle in the world in both of the last two years, outpacing incredibly popular vehicles like the Toyota RAV4. In China, the EV market is substantially more saturated, with more competitors than in any other market.
Tesla has been particularly kind to the Chinese market, as it has launched trim levels for the Model Y in the country that are not available anywhere else, such as the Model Y L. Demand has been strong for the Model Y in China, with the vehicle ranking among the country’s top 5 New Energy Vehicles. Interestingly enough, vehicles that beat the Model Y in volume like the BYD Seagull are notably more affordable. Compared to vehicles that are comparably priced, the Model Y remains a strong seller in China.
Elon Musk
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
“And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.”
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Wednesday and commended Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his early belief in what is now the most valuable company in the world.
Huang and Musk are widely regarded as two of the greatest tech entrepreneurs of the modern era, with the two working in conjunction as NVIDIA’s chips are present in Tesla vehicles, particularly utilized for self-driving technology and data collection.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets not investing more in Elon Musk’s xAI
Both CEOs defied all odds and created companies from virtually nothing. Musk joined Tesla in the early 2000s before the company had even established any plans to build a vehicle. Jensen created NVIDIA in the booth of a Denny’s restaurant, which has been memorialized with a plaque.
On the JRE episode, Rogan asked about Jensen’s relationship with Elon, to which the NVIDIA CEO said that Musk was there when nobody else was:
“I was lucky because I had known Elon Musk, and I helped him build the first computer for Model 3, the Model S, and when he wanted to start working on an autonomous vehicle. I helped him build the computer that went into the Model S AV system, his full self-driving system. We were basically the FSD computer version 1, and so we were already working together.
And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.
He goes ‘You know what, I have a company that could really use this.’ I said, Wow, my first customer. And he goes, it’s an AI company, and it’s a nonprofit and and we could really use one of these supercomputers. I boxed one up, I drove it up to San Francisco, and I delivered it to the Elon in 2016.”
The first DGX-1 AI supercomputer was delivered personally to Musk when he was with OpenAI, which provided crucial early compute power for AI research, accelerating breakthroughs in machine learning that underpin modern tools like ChatGPT.
Tesla’s Nvidia purchases could reach $4 billion this year: Musk
The long-term alliance between NVIDIA and Tesla has driven over $2 trillion in the company’s market value since 2016.
Tesla extends FSD Supervised ride-alongs in Europe by three months
Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
