For the second time this week, SpaceX is preparing for the maiden test flight of Starship, the company’s most ambitious rocket to date and the most powerful rocket ever built. If successful, Starship could become the vehicle of choice to take astronauts back to the moon or perhaps even take humanity on its first-ever journey to Mars.
Starship is poised for liftoff as early as Thursday during a one-hour launch window starting at 8:28 a.m. CT (9:28 a.m. ET). The rocket will be launching from Starbase, SpaceX’s private spaceport at the southernmost point of Texas. Similar to other missions, the Starship test flight will be livestreamed on SpaceX’s website about 45 minutes before the scheduled liftoff.
This will be Starship’s second attempt at a test flight. The rocket was initially set for its maiden flight on Monday, but the launch was halted due to a valve issue. The SpaceX team ended up treating the rest of the launch attempt as a “wet dress rehearsal,” with the private space company going through Starship’s launch steps except for the rocket’s actual liftoff.
The Test Flight
Starship is a very imposing rocket and is comprised of two sections. At its bottom lies the Super Heavy booster, a 230-foot-tall (69 meters) cylinder equipped with 33 engines, and sitting atop it is the 164-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship spacecraft.
Upon ignition, the booster is expected to propel the spacecraft over the Gulf of Mexico toward space. At around two and a half minutes after takeoff, the Super Heavy rocket booster is expected to separate from the Starship spacecraft and descend into the ocean. The Starship spacecraft will then utilize its engines for over six minutes to reach almost orbital speeds.
Starship is expected to complete nearly a full orbit of Earth before re-entering the atmosphere near Hawaii. Provided that everything goes according to plan, Starship would be splashing down in the Pacific Ocean about an hour and a half after it takes off from Texas, as noted in a CNN report.
Elon Musk Sets Expectations
While there is much humor to be inspired by Starship’s possible 4/20 maiden flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has tempered expectations about the upcoming rocket launch. Musk has noted that “success is not what should be expected… That would be insane,” when it comes to the test flight. Musk would know, considering his vast experience with rocket-building that began way back during Falcon 1’s days from 2006 to 2008.
Starship development has taken place at SpaceX’s Texas spaceport. Early testing of Starship started with “hop tests” of several prototypes, which progressed from short flights a few dozen feet off the ground to high-altitude flights. And while many of the tests ended in massive explosions, one suborbital flight test in May 2021 proved successful. Footage from the test looked like something from a sci-fi movie.
Musk’s tempered expectations for Starship’s maiden test flight should come as no surprise. Back when SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket made its first launch in 2018, Musk estimated only a 50-50 chance of success. At the time, Musk even joked that people came from all over the world to witness either an amazing rocket launch or the best fireworks display they had ever seen. Fortunately, the Falcon Heavy launch was successful, and it provided some of the most iconic images of modern spaceflight in the form of Starman and his red Tesla Roadster floating in space.
SpaceX’s livestream for Starship’s second test flight attempt can be viewed below.
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News
Tesla Robotaxi wins over firm that said it was ‘likely to disappoint’
Tesla Robotaxi recently won over a Wall Street firm that had recently said the platform was “likely to disappoint.”

Tesla Robotaxi recently won over a Wall Street firm that had recently said the platform was “likely to disappoint.” The ride-hailing service has been operating for about a month, and driverless rides have been offered to a small group of people that continues to expand nearly every day.
JPMorgan went to Austin to test the Tesla Robotaxi platform, and it did so just a few weeks after listing Tesla as one of its “six stocks to short” in 2025. Highlighting the loss of the EV tax credit and labeling the Robotaxi initiative as one that was “likely to disappoint,” despite Tesla’s prowess in its self-driving software.
Analyst Ryan Brinkman has been skeptical of Tesla for some time, even stating that the company’s “sky-high valuation” was not in line with other stocks in the Magnificent Seven.
However, a recent visit to Texas that was made by JPMorgan analysts proved that the Robotaxi platform, despite being in its earliest stages, was enough for them to change their tune, at least slightly. The firm gave its props to the Tesla Robotaxi platform in a note by stating it was “certainly solid and felt like a safe ride at all times.”
It’s always nice to hear skeptics report positive experiences, especially as Robotaxi continues to improve and expand.
Tesla has already expanded its geofence for the Robotaxi suite in Austin, picking a very interesting shape for its newest boundaries:
Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion wasn’t a joke, it was a warning to competitors
As Robotaxi expands, Tesla is dealing with competition from Waymo, another self-driving ride-hailing service that is operating in Austin, among other areas. After Tesla’s expansion, which brought its accessible area to a greater size than Waymo’s, it responded by doubling its geofence.
Waymo’s expansion surpassed Tesla’s size considerably, and it seems Tesla is preparing to expand its geofence in the coming weeks.
Waymo responds to Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion in Austin with bold statement
The Robotaxi platform is not yet available to the public, but Tesla has been inviting more people to try it with every passing day. Currently, the map is roughly 42 square miles, but many believe Tesla is able to broaden this by a considerable margin whenever it decides.
Investor's Corner
Tesla needs to confront these concerns as its ‘wartime CEO’ returns: Wedbush
Tesla will report earnings for Q2 tomorrow. Here’s what Wedbush expects.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2025 tomorrow, and although Wall Street firm Wedbush is bullish as the company appears to have its “wartime CEO” back, it is looking for answers to a few concerns investors could have moving forward.
The firm’s lead analyst on Tesla, Dan Ives, has kept a bullish sentiment regarding the stock, even as Musk’s focus seemed to be more on politics and less on the company.
However, Musk has recently returned to his past attitude, which is being completely devoted and dedicated to his companies. He even said he would be sleeping in his office and working seven days a week:
Back to working 7 days a week and sleeping in the office if my little kids are away https://t.co/77cc6sRCFZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025
Nevertheless, Ives has continued to push suggestions forward about what Tesla should do, what its potential valuation could be in the coming years with autonomy, and how it will deal with the loss of the EV tax credit.
Tesla preps to expand Robotaxi geofence once again, answering Waymo
These questions are at the forefront of what Ives suggests Tesla should confront on tomorrow’s call, he wrote in a note to investors that was released on Tuesday morning:
“Clearly, losing the EV tax credits with the recent Beltway Bill will be a headwind to Tesla and competitors in the EV landscape looking ahead, and this cash cow will become less of the story (and FCF) in 2026. We would expect some directional guidance on this topic during the conference call. Importantly, we anticipate deliveries globally to rebound in 2H led by some improvement on the key China front with the Model Y refresh a catalyst.”
Ives and Wedbush believe the autonomy could be worth $1 trillion for Tesla, especially as it continues to expand throughout Austin and eventually to other territories.
In the near term, Ives expects Tesla to continue its path of returning to growth:
“While the company has seen significant weakness in China in previous quarters given the rising competitive landscape across EVs, Tesla saw a rebound in June with sales increasing for the first time in eight months reflecting higher demand for its updated Model Y as deliveries in the region are starting to slowly turn a corner with China representing the heart and lungs of the TSLA growth story. Despite seeing more low-cost models enter the market from Chinese OEMs like BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others, the company’s recent updates to the Model Y spurred increased demand while the accelerated production ramp-up in Shanghai for this refresh cycle reflected TSLA’s ability to meet rising demand in the marquee region. If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”
Tesla will report earnings tomorrow at market close. Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and held its $500 price target.
Investor's Corner
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its second-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 23, after markets close. With this in mind, Tesla investors have aggregated their top questions for the company at its upcoming Q&A session.
The upcoming earnings report follows a mixed delivery quarter. Tesla produced over 410,000 vehicles and delivered more than 384,000 units globally. In the energy segment, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of storage products, continuing momentum for its Megapack business. Tesla’s vehicle sales are currently down year-over-year, though a good part of this was due to the Model Y changeover in the first quarter.
Following are Tesla investors’ top questions for management, as aggregated in Say.
- Can you give us some insight (into) how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
- What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
- What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
- Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
- When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
- Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
- Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next, and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year-end?
- Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years? We still do not know much about HW4.
- Cybertruck ramp is now a year in, but sales have lagged other models. How are you thinking through boosting sales of such an incredible product?
- When will there be a new CEO compensation package presented and considered for the next stage of the company’s growth?
Tesla will release its Q2 update letter on its Investor Relations website after markets close on Wednesday. A live Q&A webcast with management will then follow at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET) to discuss the company’s performance and outlook.
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