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SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returns to California port for the last time
SpaceX has returned one of its reusable Dragon spacecraft to the Port of Los Angeles for the last time, wrapping up almost a decade of West Coast recovery operations as the company prepares to move East.
Marking the fully successful completion of Cargo Dragon’s CRS-20 space station resupply mission for NASA, the spacecraft’s arrival in port aboard recovery vessel NRC Quest is SpaceX’s 21st since December 2010. CRS-20 was the original Cargo Dragon spacecraft’s very last mission, meaning that the historic vehicle will have effectively entered retirement once SpaceX has finished capsule C112’s post-flight processing. More likely than not, it and its siblings may soon find themselves displayed in SpaceX facilities and aerospace museums across the US, a fitting end for an orbital spacecraft that effectively launched SpaceX onto the world’s spaceflight stage.
Cargo Dragon is by no means the last of its kind, however. SpaceX has already launched Crew Dragon – also known as Dragon 2 – on a flawless March 2019 orbital debut. An uncrewed variant of the same upgraded spacecraft will soon replace Cargo Dragon for uncrewed space station resupply missions under a second NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract (CRS2). For a variety of reasons, SpaceX has decided to move all Dragon 2 recovery operations to its Port Canaveral, Florida hub, now also the sole home of Falcon booster drone ship recoveries and payload fairing catch attempts. This means that April 9th’s Cargo Dragon homecoming is the last time a SpaceX spacecraft will return to the West Coast — a bittersweet end of an era.
Upon its safe return to shore, Cargo Dragon C112 is now the third Dragon spacecraft to successfully complete three separate orbital resupply missions, as well as the ninth Dragon reuse overall. While the recovered spacecraft may look like a very well-toasted marshmallow, all that visible wear and tear comes from a single orbital-velocity reentry, as SpaceX extensively refurbishes each Dragon before they are reused.
Before Cargo Dragon C112 lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket for the third time on March 7th, it looked about as pristine as it did the first time it departed SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California factory in 2016. Aside from a duo of International Space Station badges added to the spacecraft’s exterior, it is functionally and visually identical, although parts of the capsule – like landing parachutes and its ablative heat shield – must be replaced after each mission.
Still, despite having to clean and resurface the spacecraft’s white thermal protection, replace heat shields, fabricate new disposable trunk sections, and much more for every launch, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stated that even the first Dragon reuse (likely the most expensive) was at least 50% cheaper than building a new spacecraft. Additionally, SpaceX clearly began to find its stride on Dragon capsule C112’s CRS-20 refurbishment, completing the process with record-breaking speed.
As previously discussed on Teslarati, “measured from splashdown to the capsule’s shipment to the launch pad, SpaceX may have spent less than a year refurbishing Cargo Dragon C112, potentially more than a 50% faster than all prior Dragon refurbishment operations.” Cargo Dragon’s Dragon 2 replacement is expected to be far easier to refurbish, while also potentially allowing for up to five orbital missions per spacecraft, while Dragon 1’s design was capped at three missions.
CRS-21 – SpaceX’s first NASA CRS2 mission and the first planned Cargo Dragon 2 launch – is scheduled for no earlier than (NET) October 2020. Meanwhile, Crew Dragon’s “Demo-2” astronaut debut is set to launch as early as late May. If successful, NASA says Crew Dragon’s first operational astronaut launch could happen as early as a month or two after splashdown (~Q4 2020).
After completing their orbital duties, all of those upgraded Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to reenter and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, where they will be brought back to Cape Canaveral for processing and refurbishment. In the event that weather in the Atlantic Ocean is unacceptable for recovery operations, SpaceX has developed a backup recovery zone in the Gulf of Mexico. In short, it’s possible that Cargo Dragon’s April 7th Port of Los Angeles return will be the last time ever that the US West Coast supports orbital spacecraft recovery operations.
SpaceX is preparing for the 13th integrated flight test of its Starship system, with a targeted launch as early as Thursday, July 16. The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT from Starbase in South Texas.
This comes roughly seven weeks after Flight 12 on May 22, underscoring the company’s accelerating pace in its rapid development campaign. The mission will use the latest Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles equipped with Raptor 3 engines. Booster 20 will attempt a controlled boostback burn, followed by a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while Ship 40 will follow a suborbital trajectory.
Starship’s thirteenth flight test is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 16 → https://t.co/Rp7VwBzpWx pic.twitter.com/jdpFlQUEpF
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 11, 2026
Key objectives for Flight 13 will include demonstrating reliable stage separation, engine performance under various conditions, and controlled reentry.
A major milestone for Flight 13 is the first deployment of 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. These satellites feature advanced laser links for inter-satellite communication, deployable solar arrays, and onboard cameras, six of which will capture imagery of Starship’s heat shield during flight.
Several heat shield tiles on Ship 40 will be painted white to serve as imaging targets, while additional experiments test upgraded tiles on aft flaps, modified attachments on the aft skirt, and load-sensing tiles to measure stresses. The upper stage will also attempt a single Raptor engine relight in space before a targeted splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
These tests build directly on lessons from Flight 12, which introduced the V3 configuration but encountered issues including a booster flip anomaly during boostback and an engine-out event on the ship. Hardware and software modifications on Booster 20 and Ship 40 aim to improve engine relight reliability, startup sequencing, and overall robustness.
Next Starship launch aiming for Thursday https://t.co/SajPPd4pdb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2026
The short interval between Flights 12 and 13 highlights SpaceX’s iterative approach. Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that Starship launches will become “incredibly common” in the coming years.
The company envisions scaling to rates as high as one launch per hour within 4-5 years, potentially enabling thousands of flights annually. Such cadence is essential for Starship’s goals: establishing orbital refueling for lunar and Mars missions, deploying massive satellite constellations, and making life multiplanetary.
With each flight, Starship edges closer to full reusability and operational maturity. Success on July 16 would mark another step toward routine access to space and the ambitious vision of humanity becoming a spacefaring civilization.
Tesla shared a striking video showcasing the decommissioning of the original Model S and Model X assembly line at its Fremont Factory in Northern California. Completed in just 46 days, the teardown involved heavy machinery dismantling concrete pits, removing robotic arms and conveyors, and clearing the space for new production.
The post, captioned “End of an era,” captured both the end of a historic chapter and Tesla’s aggressive pivot toward its next major initiative, Optimus.
End of an era: Decommissioning the original Model S & X assembly line in just 46 days pic.twitter.com/kGEdfhl62h
— Tesla Manufacturing (@gigafactories) July 10, 2026
The decision to retire the Model S and Model X originated during Tesla’s Q4 2025 Earnings Call in late January 2026. CEO Elon Musk announced that production of the company’s flagship sedan and SUV would wind down by the end of Q2 2026, describing it as bringing the programs to an “honorable discharge.”
Custom orders ceased around early April 2026, with the final vehicles rolling off the line in early May. A special signature delivery ceremony on May 20 marked the emotional close for these vehicles, which had defined Tesla’s early success and luxury EV segment since the Model S launch in 2012.
The primary reason for tearing down the lines was to repurpose the valuable factory floor space for high-volume production of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot. Musk had indicated on Earnings Calls that the Fremont S/X line would be replaced by a dedicated Optimus manufacturing line targeting a capacity of one million units per year.
This move aligns with Tesla’s broader strategic shift from traditional vehicle manufacturing toward robotics and artificial intelligence, leveraging the company’s expertise in autonomy, AI training, and high-volume production.
Optimus, Tesla’s general-purpose humanoid robot, is designed to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks in factories, warehouses, and eventually homes. Powered by Tesla’s AI and Neural Networks, it aims to be a versatile, affordable platform. Production of Optimus Gen 3 is already underway in limited form at Fremont, with full-scale output on the converted line expected to begin in late July or August.
Tesla is targeting rapid scaling, with internal ambitions pointing toward tens or even hundreds of thousands of units annually by the end of 2026.
Longer-term, Tesla is constructing a much larger second-generation Optimus facility at Giga Texas, with potential capacity reaching millions of units per year. The company views Optimus as a transformative product that could eventually surpass its automotive business in scale and value, enabling widespread deployment of useful robots across industries. CEO Elon Musk has even predicted it would be the most popular product of all-time.
As one era closes at Fremont, another is rapidly taking shape.
Elon Musk posted a candid admission on his social media platform X on June 9, declaring that he had been “clearly wrong” about Anthropic. The statement marked a notable reversal from his earlier skepticism toward the AI company.
In September, Musk had written, “Winning was never in the set of possible outcomes for Anthropic,” reflecting his view at the time that the startup had lacked the foundation or even the trajectory to succeed in what is an incredibly intense race for advanced artificial intelligence.
Musk’s latest post came amid discussion of Anthropic’s reliance on external compute resources. He praised the company’s progress, stating that Anthropic is “obviously currently the leader in AI” and that “no company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable,” with expectations of a strong follow-up in Mythos 2.
The tone shifted dramatically from dismissal to acknowledgement of superior performance.
I was clearly wrong about Anthropic. They are obviously currently the leader in AI. No company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable and they will undoubtedly have Mythos 2 ready soon.
And I would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor.…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2026
The context of Musk’s comments added significance. Anthropic has been operating under a recent compute deal with SpaceXAI, Musk’s AI infrastructure-focused venture. The pair entered a short-term GPU lease agreement initiated in May, providing Anthropic access to critical computing power for training and deploying its frontier models.
SpaceXAI signs agreement with Anthropic for massive AI supercomputer access
Some observers had speculated that Musk could leverage this dependency to disadvantage a rival. Musk directly addressed the possibility, writing, “I would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor. That’s not my style.”
To support his commitment to ethical competition, Musk referenced concrete examples from his other companies. Tesla famously open-sourced its entire portfolio of electric vehicle patents in 2014. The move was designed to accelerate the global adoption of sustainable transportation technology rather than protect proprietary advantages.
Tesla also made its Supercharger network available to competing electric vehicle manufacturers, transforming what could have remained an exclusive charging ecosystem into a shared infrastructure that benefits the broader industry and reduces barriers for EV adoption.
Musk further pointed to SpaceX’s practices, noting that the company launches satellites for competing commercial systems “with no increase in price or use of unfair terms.” He extended the principle to his social platform, observing that “even my worst enemies attack me on this platform,” underscoring preference for open discourse over retaliation.
These examples have illustrated Musk’s long-standing philosophy that long-term technological progress is best served by open competition and infrastructure sharing rather than leveraging market power to stifle rivals. In the fast-evolving AI sector, where compute resources and model capabilities determine leadership, Musk’s stance suggests a willingness to compete on innovation and performance alone.
Musk’s admission arrives as SpaceXAI itself advances its own frontier models while maintaining business relationships across the ecosystem. By publicly correcting his earlier assessment and reaffirming principles of fair play, Musk highlights a model of competition that prioritizes advancement of the field over short-term tactical advantages.
SpaceX reveals Starship Flight 13 launch date
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
