News
A look back at the epic SpaceX Starship Integrated Flight Test 2
SpaceX has begun sharing some of the amazing imagery they captured during the 2nd flight of Starship. They captured awesome views from the launch tower to the hot staging of Ship 25 and Booster 9, and we’ll take a look at them all.
Just a quick recap. Ship 25 and Booster 9 launched on Saturday, November 18th, at 8:02 AM CT. All 33 Raptor engines roared to life and built to full thrust as Starship thundered away from the orbital launch mount.
View from atop the tower at liftoff pic.twitter.com/qbXqbXAO8A
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 20, 2023
Booster 9 performed flawlessly during its approximate 2-minute and 43-second burn to then shut down 30 engines as Ship 25 performed a perfect hot stage to propel itself on the way to space. Ship 25 6 Raptor engines continued to burn until just over 8 minutes after liftoff when the automated flight termination system destroyed the rocket.
In hours and days after launch, SpaceX then began sharing some of the views they were able to capture of the historic flight.
Starship liftoff in slow motion pic.twitter.com/PuWMVyU6Lc
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2023
Starship launching from Starbase just after sunrise in slow motion, where you can clearly see the shockwaves moving through the exhaust plume.
33 Raptor engines ignite on Booster 9 (Credit: SpaceX)
The raw power of the 33 Raptors was visible in this imagery as nonstop shockwaves moved through the exhaust plume. The launch pad held up incredibly well this time around with the addition of the deluge system.
Watch the three center engines on Starship’s upper stage gimbaling just after separation. Right before they ignite for hot-staging, the engines angle themselves outward to direct their exhaust towards the vented interstage before re-centering for ascent. pic.twitter.com/CCSVXfLcuE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2023
With Booster 9 being done with its primary portion of the flight, the hot stage maneuver began. This is the first time SpaceX has ever attempted this, and it worked perfectly. Each of the center three sea-level Raptor engines was gimbaled out to aim their exhaust through the vents of the hot stage ring and prevent major damage to Booster 9.

Ship 25 performs the hot stage maneuver (Credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX wasn’t the only one to capture amazing imagery. Here are just a few from photographers who made the trek to South Texas.
33 Raptors! pic.twitter.com/9WkT9Aluco
— John Kraus (@johnkrausphotos) November 18, 2023
LIFTOFF! What incredible sight as @SpaceX successfully launches the second test flight of Starship from Starbase.
? me for @SpaceflightNow pic.twitter.com/fJZh7oO82Q
— Adam Bernstein (@ABernNYC) November 18, 2023
Starship and Super Heavy lifting off on flight 2. Check out those pressure waves! @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/FRDfbfI2rH
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) November 19, 2023
Amazing work from John Kraus, Adam Bernstein, and Jack Beyer, amongst many others. If you have a chance, check out more of their and others’ work on X!
Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI, creator of Grok and Grokipedia, celebrates its third birthday
xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has marked its third anniversary. The update was shared in a post from the xAI Memphis account on social media platform X.
xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post.
As per xAI, it has built three massive data centers in the city, launched a coherent cluster of 330,000 GBs, created over 3,000 jobs, and paid over $30 million in taxes to local communities.
xAI’s Memphis operation has become a key part of the company’s infrastructure as the company works to train and deploy its Grok artificial intelligence models. Elon Musk has been quite optimistic about Grok’s potential, noting in the past that the large language model might have a shot at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
xAI’s Memphis’ crown jewel is its Colossus supercomputer cluster. The project was announced in 2024 and has since become the home of one of the world’s largest AI compute facilities. The first phase of Colossus reached its initial 100,000 GPU operational milestone in just 122 days, or just about four months.
Industry figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have praised the facility, noting that projects of similar scale typically take two to four years to complete.
xAI has cited Memphis’ central location, skilled workforce, and industrial infrastructure as key reasons for selecting the city as the home of its AI training operations. The company has also emphasized plans to expand the site further as it scales compute capacity for Grok and future AI models.
News
Tesla Sweden’s Megapack Supercharger near Arlanda continues to aggravate IF Metall union
The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.
Tesla Sweden’s Megapack-powered Supercharger station near Arlanda Airport has continued to aggravate Swedish labor union IF Metall. The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.
Comments about the site were shared by IF Metall representatives in remarks to Swedish publication CarUp.
The Arlandastad location includes eight Tesla Superchargers powered by a Megapack battery system. Unlike traditional charging stations that rely on direct grid connections, the site uses a large battery installation to store electricity and power the chargers.
According to the Swedish publication, the setup allowed the station to come online despite sympathy measures from Sweden’s electricians’ union, which has attempted to prevent companies from cooperating with Tesla as part of the broader labor conflict.
IF Metall press manager Jesper Pettersson indicated that the union was not aware that the Superchargers had already been connected and activated.
“We do not know the details around this. But it is further proof of how Tesla systematically finds loopholes to circumvent the sympathy measures through active strikebreaking. Every time this happens it gives us reason to sharpen our conflict measures,” Pettersson said.
Union representatives also noted that the Megapack appears to be charged using electrical cables routed through nearby terrain, though the exact power source remains under review.
The Megapack-powered site has then prompted questions from Swedish labor unions about how electricity is being supplied to the system.
IF Metall has submitted a report to Sweden’s Energy Market Inspectorate asking the regulator to review whether the electricity supply arrangement complies with national regulations. The Megapack is reportedly charged using electricity from a local company, though the provider has not been publicly identified.
Peter Lydell, an ombudsman at IF Metall, previously stated that Swedish law limits electricity trading to companies with proper authorization.
“The legislation states that only companies that engage in electricity trading may supply electricity to other parties. You may not supply electricity without a permit, then you are engaging in illegal electricity trading. That is why we have reported this…
“This is about a company that helps Tesla circumvent the conflict measures that exist. It is clear that it is troublesome and it can also have consequences,” Lydell said.
IF Metall and Tesla Sweden’s conflict has been going on for over two years now.
Elon Musk
Starbase after dark: Musk’s latest photo captures a Spaceport on the brink of history
SpaceX’s Starbase city in Boca Chica, Texas is rapidly transforming the southern tip of the Lone Star State into one of the most ambitious launch complexes in history.
A striking nighttime photograph of SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, shared recently by Elon Musk on X, offers a dramatic glimpse of an operation that is rapidly transforming the southern tip of the Lone Star State into one of the most ambitious launch complexes in history.
The most immediately visible change in the photo is the presence of two fully erected Starship launch towers dominating the coastal skyline. The second orbital launch pad, known as Pad B, now features its fully erected tower, OLIT-3, which stands approximately 474 feet tall and incorporates an integrated water-cooled flame trench designed to minimize damage and reduce turnaround time between launches. The dual-tower silhouette against the night sky signals a decisive shift from experimental testing facility to high-cadence launch operations.
Grok Image concept of Elon Musk’s latest Starbase photo via X
Back at Starbase, Pad 2 is approaching hardware completion, with upgraded chopstick arms, a new chilldown vent system, and all 20 hold-down arms now fitted with protective doors to shield them from the intense exhaust of up to 33 Raptor 3 engines, according to a deeper dive by NASASpaceFlight.
SpaceX has also received approval to nearly double the footprint of the Starbase launch site, with groundwork already underway to add LNG liquefaction plants, expanded propellant storage, and additional ground support infrastructure.
The photo also carries a milestone civic dimension. Starbase officially became a Texas city in May 2025 after a community vote, with SpaceX employees elected as mayor and commissioners of the newly incorporated municipality. That legal status streamlines launch approvals and gives SpaceX direct control over local infrastructure decisions.
The FAA has approved an increase in launches from Starbase in Texas from five to twenty-five per year, clearing the runway for the kind of flight frequency needed to fulfill Starship’s ultimate mission of ferrying cargo and crew to the Moon, servicing the Department of Defense, deploying next-generation Starlink satellites, and eventually establishing Elon Musk’s long sought after goal of a self-sustaining human presence on Mars.
Seen from above in the dark, Starbase looks less like a test site and more like a spaceport.