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SpaceX shows off largest window in space after spectacular Inspiration4 launch
SpaceX has revealed the first on-orbit view of the largest window every launched on a rocket – and provided an update on the status of its first private astronauts – after Wednesday night’s spectacular Inspiration4 launch.
Around 8:03 pm EDT on September 15th (00:03 UTC 16 Sept), Falcon 9 successfully lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, sending four private astronauts – the world’s first all-private crew on an orbital spacecraft – into low Earth orbit (LEO). In the 18 hours since, now twice-flown Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience has successfully boosted its orbit from around 200 km (~120 mi) to around 580-590 km (360-365 mi) – the highest altitude ever reached by private astronauts and highest any human has traveled in approximately two decades (19 or 22 years).
Now safely in orbit on what’s expected to be a three-day journey in space, SpaceX also reports that Inspiration4 commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Sian Proctor, medical officer Haley Arceneaux, and specialist Christopher Sembroski are all “healthy, happy, and resting comfortably.” As early as this afternoon, the four private astronauts will wake up and potentially experience Crew Dragon’s cupola – the largest window by surface area ever flown to space or orbit – for the first time.
Following a spectacular post-sunset launch and a nearly five-hour webcast covering it, many have noted that SpaceX and Inspiration4 have practically gone silent after reaching orbit and that unlike Crew Dragon’s past three NASA astronaut launches, there has been no live coverage – and virtually no news at all – of the in-space cruise phase. It’s quite possible that one, several, or all of the four Inspiration4 crew members – all spaceflight rookies – are experiencing the common and uncomfortable “space adaptation syndrome,” referring to extreme nausea and discomfort as many as two-thirds of astronauts experience during their first hours or even days in microgravity.
If that’s the case, it would be no surprise that the crew might want privacy for the first 12-24+ hours and more generally to simply enjoy being in orbit – and higher than all but a few dozen humans have ever traveled – with some degree of peace. A great deal of photos and videos are still expected – but as part of Netflix’s Countdown documentary and only after the crew returns to Earth, rather than the live, immediate coverage SpaceX’s other Crew Dragon missions have had.
With another two days left in orbit, the Inspiration4 crew are scheduled to perform a few relatively minor experiments – mostly focused on health – but are mostly expected to simply enjoy being in space. Once they wake up and are able to open Dragon’s forward bulkhead hatch, they’ll get to experience the first-ever views out of the spacecraft’s cupola. A camera inside the nosecone cover will allow them to take some truly unique self-portraits with Earth, space, and even the Milky Way as backdrops – only really comparable to the occasional self-portraits taken by astronauts during spacewalks.
With any luck, SpaceX or Inspiration4 will share a few of those special photos later today. Barring on-the-fly changes, the four private astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth on Saturday evening. Stay tuned for further updates on the historic mission.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
SpaceX’s Starship flew successfully Friday, landing both stages and deploying its first Starlink V3 satellites.
Starship’s thirteenth test flight delivered exactly what SpaceX needed with a clean liftoff, two successful stage recoveries, and the first real payload the vehicle has ever carried to space. Booster 20 and Ship 40 lifted off at 5:51 p.m. CT from Starbase, and by the time the mission wrapped roughly an hour later, both halves of the rocket had done exactly what they were supposed to do.
Booster 20 separated from Ship 40 a few minutes into the flight and stuck a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about six minutes after liftoff. That is a meaningful turnaround from Flight 12 in May, when the booster lost several engines during its boostback burn before a hard water landing attempt.
Starship as seen from Starlink satellites pic.twitter.com/e2hvfmnewh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
Starship 40’s performance was arguably the bigger win. The vehicle deployed the first 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever carried, then flew a suborbital arc to a landing in the Indian Ocean that SpaceX commentator Dan Huot called the company’s softest splashdown yet. “This is a dream scenario for this team that’s trying to get this heat shield data,” Huot said on the live broadcast, according to Space.com’s live coverage. “I’m a little over the moon right now. Wow. Lucky number 13.”
Unlike the mass simulators SpaceX flew on Flight 12, these were production Starlink V3 satellites, meant to extend solar arrays and antennas and attempt to link with the broader constellation before reentering minutes later. Getting real hardware through a full deploy sequence on only the second flight of the V3 generation keeps Starship on schedule for the payload work NASA is counting on for future Artemis lunar landings.
What an awesome launch, really seems like everything went super well and it was all incredibly smooth.
SpaceX is awesome. Very interested to see how the market will respond on Monday pic.twitter.com/KSHmyBfV55
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 25, 2026
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 25, 2026
The flight also arrives at a moment when SpaceX needed a win. SPCX has traded below its $135 IPO price since mid-July, as Teslarati reported when the mission slipped to Friday, and short interest has climbed to roughly a third of the tradable float. A clean flight will not fix a balance sheet, but it does answer the one question SpaceX absolutely needed answered this week: whether the fixes made after the July 16 abort would hold up under real flight conditions. They did, on both stages, on the first try after the redesign.
SpaceX has not set a target date for Flight 14, though the company has said it wants to push toward an orbital attempt on the next mission. After Friday, that goal looks a lot more within reach.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
