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SpaceX’s recovery boat Mr Steven has a new net to catch Falcon 9 fairings

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While photographer Pauline Acalin just barely missed a toasty Cargo Dragon returning to roost earlier that morning, a routine checkup on SpaceX’s Port of Los Angeles facilities revealed a hefty new net installed on the recovery boat Mr. Steven, as well as noteworthy activity at the huge tent currently harboring the rocket company’s BFR tooling.

After completing a thrillingly routine International Space Station resupply mission (SpaceX’s fourteenth) and spending a month on orbit, the commercial spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere at a respectable 7.5 km/s before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean for the second time. Currently, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is the only operational spacecraft capable of returning an appreciable amount of cargo from the ISS, and Capsule 110 (1 referring to Dragon 1, 10 referring to the tenth integrated spacecraft) returned even more cargo (nearly 2 mT) than it delivered to the ISS, including the space robot Robonaut 2, various completed experiments, and expired hardware. As of CRS-12, SpaceX has effectively ended production of new Cargo Dragon capsules, and has since flown two additional missions using refurbished capsules, perhaps paving the way for the first-ever triple reuse of an orbital commercial spacecraft. CRS-15, Dragon’s next flight, is currently scheduled for early July.

Although Pauline missed the battle-scarred capsule’s second return to Port of San Pedro, her travels were not for naught. Berthed at SpaceX’s leased dock space, SpaceX recovery technicians appeared to have installed and rigged a brand new net aboard fairing recovery vessel Mr. Steven in the several days between her visits. While he has yet to catch a fairing out of the sky (the ultimate goal of the program), the vessel has returned to land two of three largely intact fairing halves, the only payload fairings to have ever been recovered in one piece after an operational rocket launch. The first successful recovery followed PAZ, and although – per sources familiar with the matter – that particular half experienced catastrophic cracking while being hoisted from the ocean onto Mr. Steven’s deck, it appears that the second intact half (following Iridium-5) did not meet the same fate. It’s probable that – assuming Musk does mean to conduct helicopter drop tests – the structurally-intact Iridium-5 half is thus a prime candidate for air drop tests to perfect the system’s accuracy, as fairings immersed in saltwater are not candidates for operational reuse.

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Meanwhile, several thousand miles to the East, SpaceX nailed their first intact recovery of a fairing half in the Atlantic following the historic and successful launch of NASA’s TESS, an exoplanet observatory that will more than fill the boots soon to be left empty by forlorn Kepler. Likely to discover thousands upon thousands more planets orbiting other stars, it is perhaps fitting that the mission also featured a successful Falcon 9 booster recovery and the first-ever (more or less…) intact recovery of both halves of a payload fairing. One half was absolutely shredded, but USLaunchReport reported that the half not caught on video was in comparatively perfect condition.

Returning to Mr. Steven’s visibly-upgraded catcher’s mitt, the newly-installed net is by all appearances magnitudes larger, heavier, and stronger than the minimal mesh specimen it is clearly replacing. Given the fact that SpaceX thus far has self-admittedly failed to catch a gliding fairing half in the net, it seems unlikely that such a drastic upgrade would be necessitated by any field-testing that occurred since Mr. Steven’s debut late last year. Rather, a significantly more capable net seems to more readily fit alongside CEO Elon Musk’s tweet reveal three weeks prior that SpaceX would attempt to close the final major loop of Falcon reusability by recovering the orbital upper stage (S2). Estimated to weigh approximately 4000 kilograms empty, the upper stage is a minimum of four times heavier than Falcon 9’s payload fairing halves, Mr Steven’s current meal of choice. Judging from the new net’s beefy rigging, broader bars, and general appearance, one could safely argue that it looks at least several times stronger than the mesh net before it. One could also argue that the absolutely massive metal arms installed on Mr. Steven are far larger than what might be required to catch the extremely low mass-to-area ratio payload fairings, with structural heft and bulky netting more reminiscent of safety nets present on naval vessels that are designed to catch aircraft and helicopters weighing five metric tons or more.

Currently scheduled to liftoff around 4:12 p.m. EST May 10 from SpaceX’s LC-39A Florida launch pad, the company’s next mission will send Bangladesh’s first communications satellite – Bangabandhu-1 – to a geostationary transfer orbit. Equally significant, it will hopefully become the successful inaugural flight of Falcon 9 Block 5, a highly reliable and reusable collection of upgrades to the workhorse SpaceX rocket. Soon after, SpaceX will likely aim to complete two additional launches in late May, one from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base (Iridium-6/GRACE-FO) and the other from LC-40 in Cape Canaveral (SES-12). While the latter two launches – per their flight-proven boosters – will be expended, the first Block 5 booster (B1046) will attempt to land aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, already on station in the Atlantic.

Follow us for live updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and a sea of beautiful photos from our East and West coast photographers.

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Tom CrossTwitter

Pauline Acalin  Twitter

Eric Ralph Twitter

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Cybertruck

Tesla Cybertruck undergoes interior mod that many owners wanted

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tesla cybertruck diy bench seat
Credit: @blueskykites | X

Tesla Cybertruck is significantly different from traditional pickups on the market in a lot of ways. However, one feature that was recently modified with its interior was a highly requested characteristic that is present in other trucks, but was void from Cybertruck.

Tesla went with a five-seat configuration with Cybertruck: two in the front and three in the back. The spacious interior is matched with plenty of storage, especially up front, as a pass-through, center console, and other storage options, but some Tesla fans wanted something different: bench seating.

Bench seating is popular in many full-size pickups and allows three passengers to sit up front. The middle seat is usually accompanied by a fold-down storage unit with cupholders.

Tesla decided to opt for no bench seating up front, despite the fact that it equipped bench seating in the unveiling in 2019. Interior photos from the unveiling event from nearly six-and-a-half years ago show Tesla had originally planned to have a six-seat configuration.

This was adjusted after the company refined the design:

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tesla cybertruck initial interior

(Tesla Cybertruck interior configuration in 2019)

Despite Tesla abandoning this design, it does not mean owners were willing to accept it. One owner decided to modify their Tesla Cybertruck interior to equip that third seat between the driver’s and passenger’s thrones.

The fit is snug, and while it looks great, it is important to remember that this does not abide byregulations, as it would require an airbag to be technically legal. Please do not do this at home with your own Cybertruck:

The Cybertruck is a popular vehicle in terms of publicity, but its sales have been underwhelming since first delivered to customers back in 2023. It’s hard to believe it’s been out for two-and-a-half years, but despite this, Tesla has not been able to come through on its extensive order sheet.

This is mostly due to price, as Cybertruck was simply not as affordable as Tesla originally planned. Its three configurations were initially priced at $39,990, $49,990, and $69,990. At release, Cybertruck was priced above $100,000.

This priced out many of those who had placed orders, which is the main reason Cybertruck has not lived up to its expectations in terms of sales. The adjustments to the specific features, like the removal of the bench seat, likely did not impact sales as much as pricing did.

This modification shows some creativity by Tesla owners, but also shows that the Cybertruck could always be the subject of a potential refresh to include some of these features. Tesla routinely adjusts its vehicle designs every few years, so maybe the Cybertruck could get something like this if it chooses to refresh its all-electric pickup.

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk drops massive bomb about Cybercab

“And there is so much to this car that is not obvious on the surface,” Musk said.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk dropped a massive bomb about the Cybercab, which is the company’s fully autonomous ride-hailing vehicle that will enter production later this year.

The Cybercab was unveiled back in October 2024 at the company’s “We, Robot” event in Los Angeles, and is among the major catalysts for the company’s growth in the coming years. It is expected to push Tesla into a major growth phase, especially as the automaker is transitioning into more of an AI and Robotics company than anything else.

The Cybercab will enable completely autonomous ride-hailing for Tesla, and although its other vehicles will also be capable of this technology, the Cybercab is slightly different. It will have no steering wheel or pedals, and will allow two occupants to travel from Point A to Point B with zero responsibilities within the car.

Tesla shares epic 2025 recap video, confirms start of Cybercab production

Details on the Cybercab are pretty face value at this point: we know Tesla is enabling 1-2 passengers to ride in it at a time, and this strategy was based on statistics that show most ride-hailing trips have no more than two occupants. It will also have in-vehicle entertainment options accessible from the center touchscreen.

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It will also have wireless charging capabilities, which were displayed at “We, Robot,” and there could be more features that will be highly beneficial to riders, offering a full-fledged autonomous experience.

Musk dropped a big hint that there is much more to the Cybercab than what we know, as a post on X said that “there is so much to this car that is not obvious on the surface.”

As the Cybercab is expected to enter production later this year, Tesla is surely going to include a handful of things they have not yet revealed to the public.

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Musk seems to be indicating that some of the features will make it even more groundbreaking, and the idea is to enable a truly autonomous experience from start to finish for riders. Everything from climate control to emergency systems, and more, should be included with the car.

It seems more likely than not that Tesla will make the Cybercab its smartest vehicle so far, as if its current lineup is not already extremely intelligent, user-friendly, and intuitive.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla Q4 delivery numbers are better than they initially look: analyst

The Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner shared his thoughts in a post on his website.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Longtime Tesla analyst and Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster has shared his insights on Tesla’s Q4 2025 deliveries. As per the analyst, Tesla’s numbers are actually better than they first appear. 

Munster shared his thoughts in a post on his website. 

Normalized December Deliveries

Munster noted that Tesla delivered 418k vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2025, slightly below Street expectations of 420k but above the whisper number of 415k. Tesla’s reported 16% year-over-year decline, compared to +7% in September, is largely distorted by the timing of the tax credit expiration, which pulled forward demand.

“Taking a step back, we believe September deliveries pulled forward approximately 55k units that would have otherwise occurred in December or March. For simplicity, we assume the entire pull-forward impacted the December quarter. Under this assumption, September growth would have been down ~5% absent the 55k pull-forward, a Deepwater estimate tied to the credit’s expiration.

For December deliveries to have declined ~5% year over year would imply total deliveries of roughly 470k. Subtracting the 55k units pulled into September results in an implied December delivery figure of approximately 415k. The reported 418k suggests that, when normalizing for the tax credit timing, quarter-over-quarter growth has been consistently down ~5%. Importantly, this ~5% decline represents an improvement from the ~13% declines seen in both the March and June 2025 quarters.

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Tesla’s United States market share

Munster also estimated that Q4 as a whole might very well show a notable improvement in Tesla’s market share in the United States. 

“Over the past couple of years, based on data from Cox Automotive, Tesla has been losing U.S. EV market share, declining to just under 50%. Based on data for October and November, Cox estimates that total U.S. EV sales were down approximately 35%, compared to Tesla’s just reported down 16% for the full quarter.  For the first two months of the quarter, Cox reported Tesla market share of roughly a 65% share, up from under 50% in the September quarter.

“While this data excludes December, the quarter as a whole is likely to show a material improvement in Tesla’s U.S. EV market share.

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