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SpaceX's first NASA astronaut launch closer than ever as spacecraft and rocket near Florida
According to an engineer’s February presentation, SpaceX is on the brink of shipping its first NASA astronaut-rated Crew Dragon spacecraft to Kennedy Space Center – arguably the company’s biggest milestone yet on the path to human spaceflight.
In the last year, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon program has undeniably stumbled a few times, suffering challenging parachute failures and the catastrophic explosion of the first flight-proven Crew Dragon capsule. However, the year has been filled with far more successes. By all appearances, Crew Dragon’s parachute issues have been completely solved, while SpaceX successfully static fired an upgraded Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco engines before launching a flawless in-flight abort (IFA) test just last month.
Prior to all of this, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft completed what NASA deemed a “flawless” and “phenomenal” orbital launch debut, docking with and departing the space station without issue before safely reentering Earth’s atmosphere and splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, ten months after that flawless debut, SpaceX is perhaps just a week or two away from reaching a major milestone ahead of its first NASA astronaut launch.
Part of some kind of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) event on February 1st or 2nd, SpaceX Director of Vehicle Integration Christopher Couluris gave an exceptionally insightful presentation that was apparently recorded and (very) briefly available on YouTube. Aside from a great deal of new and useful information on Falcon booster reusability, Starship manufacturing, and more, Couluris also teased some major news for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.
In short, Couluris revealed that the Crew Dragon spacecraft – capsule C206 and an expendable trunk – assigned to SpaceX’s ‘Demo-2’ NASA astronaut launch debut could arrive at the company’s Florida Dragon processing facilities as early as mid-February, just a week or two from now. At the same time, comments the SpaceX engineer made about the number of SpaceX rocket boosters currently in Florida heavily implied that the Falcon 9 rocket assigned to said astronaut launch debut is already at KSC Launch Complex 39A (or at least nearby).
In other words, after Crew Dragon arrives, SpaceX will have all the hardware on hand and ready for its first NASA astronaut launch – arguably the single most important mission in the company’s history. Barring calamity, all that will remain is a few weeks of processing and an indeterminately long period of NASA/SpaceX reviews and paperwork. Elon Musk recently stated that he was confident that Crew Dragon Demo-2 would be fully ready to launch as early as April 2020, although May or June are also a strong possibility.
Funded by NASA and designed and built by SpaceX, Crew Dragon (Dragon 2) is an upgraded version of the company’s workhorse Cargo Dragon (Dragon 1) spacecraft, which has successfully performed 18 International Space Station (ISS) resupply missions in just eight years. While there’s a chance that SpaceX will ultimately use Crew Dragon for its own needs, like private orbital tourism, the spacecraft’s primary purpose is to routinely carry NASA astronauts to and from the Space Station – a capability the US has not had since NASA and Congress prematurely killed the Space Shuttle in 2011.
Originally intended to launch as early as 2017, both SpaceX and Boeing suffered major delays as they worked through the many challenges associated with human spaceflight and grappled with several years of egregious Congressional underfunding.
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Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand. While registrations in some countries such as Sweden have fallen sharply this year, the company’s sales in other key territories have been rising.
Giga Berlin shifts to two shifts
Giga Berlin factory manager André Thierig told the DPA that the facility has been running two shifts since September to manage a surge in global orders. And due to the tariff dispute with the United States, vehicles that are produced at Giga Berlin are now being exported to Canada.
“We deliver to well over 30 markets and definitely see a positive trend there,” Thierig said.
Despite Giga Berlin now having two shifts, the facility’s production still needs to ramp up more. This is partly due to the addition of the Tesla Model Y Performance and Standard, which are also being produced in the Grunheide-based factory. Interestingly enough, Giga Berlin still only produces the Model Y, unlike other factories like Gigafactory Texas, the Fremont Factory, and Gigafactory Shanghai, which produce more than one type of vehicle.
Norway’s momentum
Norway, facing an imminent tax increase on cars, has seen a historic spike in Tesla purchases as buyers rush to secure deliveries before the change takes effect, as noted in a CarUp report. As per recent reports, Tesla has broken Norway’s all-time annual sales record this month, beating Volkswagen’s record that has stood since 2016.
-->What is rather remarkable is the fact that Tesla was able to achieve so much in Norway with one hand practically tied behind its back. This is because the company’s biggest sales draw, FSD, remains unavailable in the country. Fortunately, Tesla is currently hard at work attempting to get FSD approved for Europe, a notable milestone that should spur even more vehicle sales in the region.
Tesla is launching a crazy Full Self-Driving free trial, which will enable owners who have not purchased the suite outright to try it for 30 days.
There are a handful of stipulations that will be needed in order for you to qualify for the free trial, which was announced on Thursday night.
Tesla said the trial is for v14, the company’s latest version of the Full Self-Driving suite, and will be available to new and existing Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck owners, who will have the opportunity to try the latest features, including Speed Profiles, Arrival Options, and other new upgrades.
🚨 Tesla is launching a free 30-day trial of Full Self-Driving in North America for owners.
It includes every model, but you need v14.2 or later, and you cannot have already purchased the suite outright. https://t.co/8CNmxxOkVl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 27, 2025
You must own one of the five Tesla models, have Full Self-Driving v14.2 or later, and have an eligible vehicle in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Canada.
The company said it is a non-transferable trial, which is not redeemable for cash. Tesla is reaching out to owners via email to give them the opportunity to enable the Full Self-Driving trial.
Those who are subscribed to the monthly Full Self-Driving program are eligible, so they will essentially get a free month of the suite.
Once it is installed, the trial will begin, and the 30-day countdown will begin.
Tesla is making a major push to increase its Full Self-Driving take rate, as it revealed that about 12 percent of owners are users of the program during its recent earnings call.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during the call:
“We feel that as people experience the supervised FSD at scale, demand for our vehicles, like Elon said, would increase significantly. On the FSD adoption front, we’ve continued to see decent progress. However, note that the total paid FSD customer base is still small, around 12% of our current fleet.”
Earlier today, we reported on Tesla also launching a small-scale advertising campaign on X for the Full Self-Driving suite, hoping to increase adoption.
Tesla Full Self-Driving warrants huge switch-up on essential company strategy
It appears most people are pretty content with the subscription program. It costs just $99 a month, in comparison to the $8,000 fee it is for the outright purchase.
Tesla Full Self-Driving has warranted a huge switch-up on an essential company strategy as the automaker is hoping to increase the take rate of the ADAS suite.
Unlike other automotive companies, Tesla has long been an outlier, as it has famously ditched a traditional advertising strategy in favor of organic buzz, natural word-of-mouth through its production innovation, and utilizing CEO Elon Musk’s huge social media presence to push its products.
Tesla has taken the money that it would normally spend on advertising and utilized it for R&D purposes. For a long time, it yielded great results, and ironically, Tesla saw benefits from other EV makers running ads.
Tesla counters jab at lack of advertising with perfect response
However, in recent years, Tesla has decided to adjust this strategy, showing a need to expand beyond its core enthusiast base, which is large, but does not span over millions and millions as it would need to fend off global EV competitors, which have become more well-rounded and a better threat to the company.
In 2024 and 2025, Tesla started utilizing ads to spread knowledge about its products. This is continuing, as Full Self-Driving ads are now being spotted on social media platforms, most notably, X, which is owned by Musk:
NEWS: Tesla is running paid advertisements on X about FSD (Supervised). Here’s an ad they started running yesterday: pic.twitter.com/IHVywLMyTd
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) November 25, 2025
Interestingly, Tesla’s strategy on FSD advertising is present in Musk’s new compensation package, as the eleventh tranche describes a goal of achieving 10 million active paid FSD subscriptions.
Full Self-Driving is truly Tesla’s primary focus moving forward, although it could be argued that it also has a special type of dedication toward its Optimus robot project. However, FSD will ultimately become the basis for the Robotaxi, which will enable autonomous ride-sharing across the globe as it is permitted in more locations.
Tesla has been adjusting its advertising strategy over the past couple of years, and it seems it is focused on more ways to spread awareness about its products. It will be interesting to see if the company will expand its spending even further, as it has yet to put on a commercial during live television.
We wouldn’t put it out of the question, at least not yet.
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla launches crazy Full Self-Driving free trial: here’s how you can get it
