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SpaceX lands NASA astronauts in the ocean for the first time in decades
SpaceX has successfully landed NASA astronauts in the ocean for the first time in almost half a century, completing the most important mission in the company’s history and setting it up for an imminent operational launch debut.
Roughly 19 hours after NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley boarded Crew Dragon and departed the International Space Station (ISS), the spacecraft ejected its trunk section and commanded a final reentry burn. 40 minutes later, Crew Dragon and its two astronaut occupants truly began to reenter Earth’s atmosphere traveling some 20-25 times the speed of sound, producing superheated plasma that prevents communication with the ground for around 10 minutes.
Right on schedule, SpaceX headquarters reacquired Crew Dragon’s signal, confirming that it had successfully made it through what CEO Elon Musk deemed the single riskiest moment of the mission prior to launch.
Finally, around 11:48 am EDT (15:48 UTC), Crew Dragon – having successfully deployed drogue and main parachutes for the second time after an orbital launch – gently splashed down in the ocean. In a global spaceflight first, Crew Dragon actually splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. For NASA, it’s the first time astronauts have actually splashed down since the final Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) capsule launch in July 1975, more than 45 years ago.

Despite at least a dozen extraordinarily irresponsible private boaters trespassing on the highly sensitive and dangerous post-splashdown recovery operations and an inexplicable lack of Coast Guard enforcement, SpaceX teams managed to bring Crew Dragon and its passengers aboard recovery vessel GO Searcher just half an hour or so after splashdown.
After purging Crew Dragon’s service section to get rid of slightly off-nominal concentrations of dinitrogen tetroxide (NTO) oxidizer, the spacecraft’s hatch was finally opened at 1 pm EDT (17:00 UTC), around 80 minutes after splashdown. Astronaut Bob Behnken exited the capsule first around 8 minutes later, followed by mission commander Doug Hurley shortly thereafter.

The successful return of Behnken and Hurley marks the completion of Crew Dragon’s inaugural Demo-2 astronaut launch and officially ends nine years NASA spent without the domestic ability to launch its own astronauts. Incredibly, NASA and SpaceX plan to waste no time to attempt an even more ambitious crewed launch – Crew Dragon’s operational astronaut launch debut.
Known as Crew-1 and scheduled to launch as early as late September, less than two months from now, Crew Dragon C206’s safe recovery means that SpaceX and NASA can begin an extensive review and (hopefully) qualify the spacecraft for operational launches. Aside from a new Crew Dragon capsule expected to arrive in Florida just a week or so from now, it’s believed that all rocket hardware is already on site for Crew-1.
A step further, the very capsule that just successfully returned NASA astronauts to Earth is scheduled to be reused as few as seven months from now on SpaceX’s second operational astronaut launch, Crew-2. According to SpaceX, the refurbishment process may have already begun and should be complete just a few months from now, offering at least as many months of buffer.
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Tesla shares rare peek at Semi factory’s interior
The new video of the Tesla Semi factory was posted by the official Tesla account on X.
Tesla has shared a rare peek inside the factory of the Tesla Semi, which is expected to start production next year. Based on the video, it appears that work in the facility’s interior is ongoing, just as hinted at by drone flyers of the site.
Tesla Semi factory
The new video of the Tesla Semi factory, which is located close to Giga Nevada, was posted by the official Tesla account on X. While the video was short at less than 30 seconds long, it did show several parts of the factory’s interior, from its gigantic machines to its expansive space. The company also showed some initial production units of the Semi operating around the site.
Elon Musk shared a quick update on the Tesla Semi’s production at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. While addressing the company’s shareholders, Musk confirmed that production of the Semi is on track for 2026.
“Starting next year, we (will) manufacture the Tesla Semi. So this, we already have a lot of prototype Tesla Semis in operation. PepsiCo and other companies have been using the Tesla Semi for quite some time. But we will start volume production at our Northern Nevada factory in 2026,” Musk said.
Tesla Semi redesign
Apart from Elon Musk’s confirmation that the Semi will indeed enter production next year, Tesla also showed an image of the Class 8 all-electric truck’s overall look. Based on a slide that was shown during Musk’s presentation, it appears that the Semi has undergone a pretty major redesign. The redesigned Semi features updated design cues that align with the company’s current lineup.
Immediately noticeable from the Semi’s updated design is its front end, which now feature headlights that resemble the style of the Cybertruck, Cybercab, and the new Model Y. Several other changes appear designed to improve aerodynamics, with Tesla now stating that the Semi has an efficiency of 1.7 kWh per mile. Side cameras, likely for FSD, are also quite prominent on the redesigned Semi.
Elon Musk
Tesla says texting and driving capability is coming ‘in a month or two’
“In the next month or two, we’re going to look at the safety statistics, but we’re going to allow you to text and drive, essentially.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that within the next month or two, the company will be able to open the ability for people to text and drive because its Full Self-Driving suite will be robust enough to allow drivers to take their attention away from the road.
In its current state, Tesla Full Self-Driving is a supervised driver assistance suite that requires the vehicle operator to maintain control of the vehicle and pay attention to the road surroundings.
However, the company has been aiming to release a fully autonomous version of the Full Self-Driving suite for years, teasing its future potential and aiming to release a Level 5 suite as soon as possible.
CEO Elon Musk believes the company is on the cusp of something drastic, according to what he said at yesterday’s Annual Shareholder Meeting.
One thing Musk hinted at was that the company should be able to allow those sitting in the driver’s seat of their cars to text and drive “in the next month or two,” as long as the statistics look good.
He said:
“In the next month or two, we’re going to look at the safety statistics, but we’re going to allow you to text and drive, essentially.”
The company recently transitioned to its v14 Full Self-Driving suite, which is its most robust to date, and recently expanded to Cybertruck, completing its rollout across the vehicle lineup.
Currently, Tesla is running v14.1.5, and when major improvements are made, that second number will increase, meaning v14.2 will be the next substantial improvement.
Musk said that v14.3 will be when you can “pretty much fall asleep and wake up at your destination.”
🚨🚨 Elon Musk says Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3 will be when you can “pretty much fall asleep and wake up at your destination.”
We are on v14.1 currently 👀 pic.twitter.com/KMkWh5Qa7T
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 6, 2025
We’ve heard a considerable amount of similar statements in the past, and Tesla owners have been conditioned to take some of these timeframes with autonomous driving with a grain of salt.
However, with the upgrades in FSD over the past few months, especially with the rollout of Robotaxi in Austin, which does not utilize anyone in the driver’s seat for local roads, it does not seem as if autonomy is that far off for Tesla.
News
Tesla Semi undergoes major redesign as dedicated factory preps for deliveries
The Semi has been one of the most anticipated products in the Tesla lineup due to the disruption it could cause in the trucking industry.
Tesla put its all-electric Semi truck through quite a major redesign as its dedicated factory for the vehicle is preparing for initial deliveries to the public starting next year.
The Semi has been one of the most anticipated products in the Tesla lineup due to the disruption it could cause in the trucking industry.
It has already been in numerous pilot programs for some pretty large companies over the past couple of years, PepsiCo. being one of them, and it is moving toward first deliveries to other companies sometime in 2026.
Yesterday at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Tesla unveiled its new Semi design, which underwent a pretty significant facelift to match the aesthetic and vibe of the other vehicles in the company’s lineup.
Additionally, Tesla announced some other improvements, including changes to efficiency, and some other changes that we did not get details on yet.
The first change was to the design of the Semi, as Tesla adopted its blade-like light bar for the Class 8 truck, similar to the one that is used on the new Model Y and the Cybertruck:

There also appear to be a handful of design changes that help with aerodynamics, as its efficiency has increased to 1.7 kWh per mile.
Tesla also said it has an increased payload capability, which will help companies to haul more goods per trip.
All of these changes come as the company’s Semi Factory, which is located on the same property as its Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, is just finishing up. In late October, it was shown that the Semi facility is nearly complete, based on recent drone imagery from factory observer HinrichsZane on X:
The factory will be capable of producing about 50,000 Tesla Semi units annually when it is completely ramped. The company has major plans to help get the Semi in more fleets across the United States.
Other entities are also working to develop a charging corridor for electric Class 8 trucks. The State of California was awarded $102 million to develop a charging corridor that spans from Washington to Southern California.
Another corridor is being developed that spans from Southern California to Texas, and 49 applicants won $636 million from the Department of Transportation for it.
Tesla requested funding for it, but was denied.
The Semi has been a staple in several companies’ fleets over the past few years, most notably that of Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., who have reported positive experiences thus far.
Musk said last year that the Semi had “ridiculous demand.”
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