Update: Despite terrible weather, SpaceX and NASA are on track to attempt to launch Cargo Dragon’s CRS-24 space station resupply mission – also Falcon 9’s 31st and last launch of 2021. Tune in below around 4:45 am EDT (09:45 UTC), December 21st to watch the mission live.


SpaceX has rolled out a rare new Falcon 9 booster for the company’s last launch of 2021, highlighting just how pervasive the company’s rocket reusability has become.
The mission – CRS-24, Cargo Dragon 2’s fourth International Space Station (ISS) resupply run – will be SpaceX’s 31st Falcon 9 launch of the year, handily beating the 26-launch record the company set in 2020. However, CRS-24 will be only the second time this year that SpaceX debuts an unflown (new) Falcon booster, meaning that all 29 other missions (~94%) successfully relied on flight-proven rockets.


In other words, in less than five years, SpaceX has gone from completing its very first Falcon 9 reuse (SES-10 – March 2017) to launching almost 30 times in one year without a single new booster. The only other time SpaceX flew a new booster this year was CRS-22, which successfully debuted Falcon 9 B1067 and the new Cargo Dragon 2 capsule C209 in June.
Six months later, Falcon 9 B1069 is scheduled to debut by launching Cargo Dragon 2 capsule C209 on its second mission to the ISS. Carrying approximately 3 tons (~6500 lb) of consumables, station parts, and science experiments, Dragon is set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Pad 39A no earlier than (NET) 5:06 am EDT (10:06 UTC) on Tuesday, December 21st. Weather is looking decidedly unfavorable, however, and CRS-24 currently runs a 70% chance of being scrubbed by poor conditions at Cape Canaveral and downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. Weather forecasts for a backup window on December 22nd currently predict a much better 60% chance of favorable conditions.
Regardless, when CRS-24 launches, it will mark a number of milestones and set several new records for SpaceX. Beyond firming up SpaceX’s record-breaking 31 launches this year, CRS-24 will also be the third Falcon launch in just 69 hours – less than three days. Before it, SpaceX’s three-launch record was most recently set in November 2020 when three Falcon 9 rockets launch Crew-1, Sentinel 6A, and Starlink V1 L15 a little over nine days (~217 hours) apart. If SpaceX can find a gap in the half-figurative clouds and launches on December 21st, it will beat that record by more than a factor of three.
Additionally, including Starlink 4-3 and NASA’s IXPE mission, CRS-24 will be SpaceX’s fifth orbital launch in December 2021 – the first time the company has launched more than four times in one month. Even more impressively, if CRS-24 lifts off before Thursday, December 23rd, it will actually be SpaceX’s fifth launch in less than three weeks. If it wasn’t December, SpaceX could have quite possibly squeezed a sixth launch into the last few days of the year. Instead, most SpaceXers will get some well-deserved time off before 2022 begins.
Incredibly, even excluding Starlink missions, which made up more than half of SpaceX’s 2021 launches, the company has at least 39 commercial Falcon launches tentatively scheduled in 2022. If it wants to continue regular Starlink launches on top of its unprecedently packed manifest, it won’t be long at all before SpaceX’s next five-launch month.
Elon Musk
Tesla Roadster owners to get “Flying Stunt Mode” and looping track access
Musk says Roadster owners can command the unveiling stunts autonomously, with a Texas looping track.
Elon Musk says owners of the new Tesla Roadster will be able to ask the car to perform the stunts Tesla showed at its unveiling, with the car doing the driving itself. Musk made the comment Saturday in a reply on X to tech blogger Robert Scoble, and he added a promise of a looping track at Tesla’s Texas headquarters.
Scoble had argued that the person in the Roadster is not really driving it. In his description, the driver operates a computer that tells another computer what to do, with steering, braking and acceleration all handled by wire. Musk answered, “True. You will be able to ask the Roadster to perform any of the tricks shown autonomously, as it will be sentient. Also, we will have a wild looping track (crazier even than Hot Wheels) at our Texas HQ where you can test out your Roadster.”
@Scobleizer True.
You will be able to ask the Roadster to perform any of the tricks shown autonomously, as it will be sentient.
Also, we will have a wild looping track (crazier even than Hot Wheels) at our Texas HQ where you can test out your Roadster.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 17, 2026
At the October 15 event outside Waco, the car drove up a curved ramp until it was upside down, flew off on cold gas thrusters, flipped and landed. It also hovered over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3 while moving. As we noted in our breakdown of the three Roadster configurations, Musk said at the event that the car “literally is just going to puff itself up” to perform the maneuvers whenever an owner wants. Saturday’s reply adds that the car would run them on its own.
Tesla has described some of the hardware that would make that possible. The Roadster uses steer by wire with a yoke, and its cold gas thrusters rely on electric actuators for small adjustments in flight. A fan system under the car creates suction, which Tesla says is strong enough to hold it upside down, a setup we covered in our look at the Roadster’s fan system and thrusters.
Musk did not say when an autonomous stunt feature might arrive, how it would work, or what he means by sentient. He also gave no size, location or opening date for the Texas track. Production is planned for Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028, and Tesla says the car is not approved for public road use. The Rocket version, the one built to fly, is invite only.
The comment follows a week of Musk teasing the event, including his claim that the demo would be a banger, which we covered before the stream. Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, and shareholders can submit and vote on questions through the Say portal until 4 p.m. EDT on October 20, according to our earnings Q&A preview. A question about autonomous Roadster stunts and the Texas track would be a quick way to get specifics from management.
Elon Musk
How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts
Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.
Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.
The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.
Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2026
Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.
For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.
The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.
Investor's Corner
Tesla’s flying Roadster just revealed something bigger than the car
Analysts say the Roadster demo puts a Tesla and SpaceX merger back on the table.
The Roadster unveiling near Waco ended Thursday night, and by Friday morning much of the investor reaction had less to do with the car than with who owns the rocket technology inside it.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the event “puts the Tesla/SpaceX relationship on the table in a tangible way,” pointing to the propulsion, pressure vessel and control hardware sitting on a Tesla product. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the demo “a ridiculous display of engineering” with “no commercial value” beyond embarrassing traditional automakers, though he said it showed Musk wants the two companies together.
The more specific forecast came a day earlier from Barclays. Analyst Dan Levy told clients a deal could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting, which must happen by December 6, and that an announcement in late October or early November could make shareholder approval harder. Barclays expects SpaceX to be the buyer in an all stock deal, with Tesla holders receiving SpaceX shares at a premium, based on market values of roughly $2.1 trillion for SpaceX and $1.5 trillion for Tesla. If nothing lands around the meeting, the bank still sees an announcement within 6 to 12 months.
The Roadster demo just added more weight to merger speculations. Tesla’s demo used cold gas thrusters and pressure tanks of the kind SpaceX uses on Falcon 9, and Musk described the car as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX engineers, as we mentioned in our breakdown of the three Roadster configurations.
Musk has not publicly addressed a deal since the event, as far as we have seen. His most direct answer remains the one he gave at the All In Summit, when he said that with so much collaboration, “who can imagine what action one might take” without ruling anything out. Ives has held to a 2027 timeline since his March note, and Musk pushed back on the China piece of the speculation when ARK floated a year end announcement in August.
The next test is Tesla’s third quarter earnings call on October 21. However, we recall in July that Musk told analysts, “we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call,” so a clear answer wouldn’t be expected.