News
SpaceX starts stacking Starship’s first orbital-class Super Heavy booster
By all appearances, SpaceX has begun the process of stacking what could become the first Super Heavy booster capable of supporting orbital Starship test flights.
Known as booster number 3 (BN3), numerous sections of the 70-meter-tall (230 ft) steel rocket have been spotted at SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas factory over the last six or so weeks – adding up to a substantial portion of what is now expected to be the first flightworthy Super Heavy. Earlier this year, SpaceX stacked Super Heavy BN1 to its full height but late design changes effectively rendered the prototype largely irrelevant and turned it into more of a manufacturing pathfinder and source of practice than anything else.
As a result, BN1 never even left the high bay it was built in before SpaceX workers cut the booster into scrap. As of May, while a handful of parts for booster number 2 have been spotted, signs indicate that BN2 will be turned into a small test tank to qualify Super Heavy’s complex and unproven thrust dome and engine section.
That leaves Super Heavy BN3. According to NASASpaceflight.com, SpaceX has nominally assigned booster BN3 to support Starship SN20 on its inaugural space launch attempt. Just last week, SpaceX filed an application with the FCC for permission to communicate with Starship and Super Heavy during that “orbital test flight” – paperwork that included a six-month launch window scheduled to open no earlier than June 20th.
If approved by the FCC and – far more importantly – the FAA, Starship’s first “orbital test flight” will circumnavigate three-quarters of the world in approximately 90 minutes, launching from Boca Chica and ending – if all goes well – with Starship SN20 gently splashing down near Kauai, Hawai’i. From the sparse documentation SpaceX included in the public application, it’s ambiguous if there will be an attempt to recover Super Heavy booster BN3 or if the test flight will actually be orbital, given that Starship SN20 wont complete a full orbit.
Technically speaking, although a Starship capable of safely launching from Texas to Hawai’i is almost unequivocally capable of reaching orbit, the safest possible “orbital” flight test for such a massive spacecraft would stop just shy of orbit. A guaranteed free-return reentry would make it almost impossible for Starship to reach orbit, fail to deorbit after its first ~90 minutes in space, and end up posing a risk to populated areas – like, say, the now-infamous boosters of China’s Long March 5B rocket. Regardless, it’s clear that the specifics of Starship’s first spaceflight attempt are still very much up in the air and liable to change over the next few weeks.
What isn’t up in the air is the fact that SpaceX will need to all but fully assemble and test Super Heavy booster BN3 and Starship SN20 before any potential space shot. Along those lines, SpaceX still has a huge amount of work to do. Per Twitter user Brendan Lewis’ accounting, SpaceX has at least six BN3 sections – amounting to 22 rings and two of three tank domes – either completed or awaiting integration. The process of stacking BN3 began sometime in the last 7-10 days when SpaceX joined two four-ring sections – including the booster’s common dome, likely pictured above.
SpaceX has mostly completed BN3’s engine section, including a thrust dome with plumbing cutouts for a full 28 Raptor engines. Most recently, what looks like a Super Heavy fuel manifold appeared in Boca Chica. That manifold will attach to the end of a supersized Super Heavy transfer tube – also spotted in work – used to route methane through the liquid oxygen tank to fuel its Raptor engines. Fueling 28 large, high-performance Raptors is no mean feat and requires a rat’s nest of plumbing to feed them more than 15 metric tons (~30,000 lb) of propellant every second at full throttle.
Put simply, a majority of Super Heavy booster BN3’s hardware appears to be ready or almost ready for integration. The eight rings now stacked represent approximately 20% of the rocket’s full height, leaving another 30 or so rings – 54m (~180 ft) – to go. Given how long BN1 assembly took SpaceX, the company has its work cut out for it to fully integrate BN3 by June 20th, and the first operational Super Heavy prototype will almost certainly need to complete several major tests before being cleared for flight. As such, an inaugural space launch attempt in June or July is wildly implausible, but it’s far from out of the question that Starship and Super Heavy could be ready for their first “orbital test flight” before summer turns to fall.
Elon Musk
Starlink achieves major milestones in 2025 progress report
Starlink wrapped up 2025 with impressive growth, adding more than 4.6 million new active customers and expanding service to 35 additional countries, territories, and markets.
Starlink wrapped up 2025 with impressive growth, adding more than 4.6 million new active customers and expanding service to 35 additional countries, territories, and markets. The company also completed deployment of its first-generation Direct to Cell constellation, launching over 650 satellites in just 18 months to enable cellular connectivity.
SpaceX highlighted Starlink’s impressive 2025 progress in an extensive report.
Key achievements from Starlink’s 2025 Progress
Starlink connected over 4.6 million new customers with high-speed internet while bringing service to 35 more regions worldwide in 2025. Starlink is now connecting 9.2 million people worldwide. The service achieved this just weeks after hitting its 8 million customer milestone.
Starlink is now available in 155 markets, including areas that are unreachable by traditional ISPs. As per SpaceX, Starlink has also provided over 21 million airline passengers and 20 million cruise passengers with reliable high-speed internet connectivity during their travels.
Starlink Direct to Cell
Starlink’s Direct to Cell constellation, more than 650 satellites strong, has already connected over 12 million people at least once, marking a breakthrough in global mobile coverage.
Starlink Direct to Cell is currently rolled out to 22 countries and 6 continents, with over 6 million monthly customers. Starlink Direct to Cell also has 27 MNO partners to date.
“This year, SpaceX completed deployment of the first generation of the Starlink Direct to Cell constellation, with more than 650 satellites launched to low-Earth orbit in just 18 months. Starlink Direct to Cell has connected more than 12 million people, and counting, at least once, providing life-saving connectivity when people need it most,” SpaceX wrote.
News
Giga Nevada celebrates production of 6 millionth drive unit
To celebrate the milestone, the Giga Nevada team gathered for a celebratory group photo.
Tesla’s Giga Nevada has reached an impressive milestone, producing its 6 millionth drive unit as 2925 came to a close.
To celebrate the milestone, the Giga Nevada team gathered for a celebratory group photo.
6 million drive units
The achievement was shared by the official Tesla Manufacturing account on social media platform X. “Congratulations to the Giga Nevada team for producing their 6 millionth Drive Unit!” Tesla wrote.
The photo showed numerous factory workers assembled on the production floor, proudly holding golden balloons that spelled out “6000000″ in front of drive unit assembly stations. Elon Musk gave credit to the Giga Nevada team, writing, “Congrats on 6M drive units!” in a post on X.
Giga Nevada’s essential role
Giga Nevada produces drive units, battery packs, and energy products. The facility has been a cornerstone of Tesla’s scaling since opening, and it was the crucial facility that ultimately enabled Tesla to ramp the Model 3 and Model Y. Even today, it serves as Tesla’s core hub for battery and drivetrain components for vehicles that are produced in the United States.
Giga Nevada is expected to support Tesla’s ambitious 2026 targets, including the launch of vehicles like the Tesla Semi and the Cybercab. Tesla will have a very busy 2026, and based on Giga Nevada’s activities so far, it appears that the facility will be equally busy as well.
News
Tesla Supercharger network delivers record 6.7 TWh in 2025
The network now exceeds 75,000 stalls globally, and it supports even non-Tesla vehicles across several key markets.
Tesla’s Supercharger Network had its biggest year ever in 2025, delivering a record 6.7 TWh of electricity to vehicles worldwide.
To celebrate its busy year, the official @TeslaCharging account shared an infographic showing the Supercharger Network’s growth from near-zero in 2012 to this year’s impressive milestone.
Record 6.7 TWh delivered in 2025
The bar chart shows steady Supercharger energy delivery increases since 2012. Based on the graphic, the Supercharger Network started small in the mid-2010s and accelerated sharply after 2019, when the Model 3 was going mainstream.
Each year from 2020 onward showed significantly more energy delivery, with 2025’s four quarters combining for the highest total yet at 6.7 TWh.
This energy powered millions of charging sessions across Tesla’s growing fleet of vehicles worldwide. The network now exceeds 75,000 stalls globally, and it supports even non-Tesla vehicles across several key markets. This makes the Supercharger Network loved not just by Tesla owners but EV drivers as a whole.
Resilience after Supercharger team changes
2025’s record energy delivery comes despite earlier 2024 layoffs on the Supercharger team, which sparked concerns about the system’s expansion pace. Max de Zegher, Tesla Director of Charging North America, also highlighted that “Outside China, Superchargers delivered more energy than all other fast chargers combined.”
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester Whole Mars Catalog noted the achievement as proof of continued momentum post-layoffs. At the time of the Supercharger team’s layoffs in 2024, numerous critics were claiming that Elon Musk was halting the network’s expansion altogether, and that the team only remained because the adults in the room convinced the juvenile CEO to relent.
Such a scenario, at least based on the graphic posted by the Tesla Charging team on X, seems highly implausible.
Starlink achieves major milestones in 2025 progress report
Giga Nevada celebrates production of 6 millionth drive unit
