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Pictured landing in July 2019 after its second launch, Falcon 9 booster B1056 - now on its fourth launch - is set to break a crucial reusability record. (SpaceX) Pictured landing in July 2019 after its second launch, Falcon 9 booster B1056 - now on its fourth launch - is set to break a crucial reusability record. (SpaceX)

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SpaceX Starlink launch ready to set crucial rocket reusability record on Monday

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5 years ago

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One of SpaceX’s newest Falcon 9 rockets is just a day away from setting one of the most important rocket reusability records after successfully firing up its booster engines – the last major step before the third Starlink launch of 2020.

Delayed two days from its original February 15th target, Falcon 9 is now scheduled to lift off no earlier than (NET) 10:05 am EST (15:05 UTC) on February 17th, carrying SpaceX’s fourth batch of upgraded Starlink v1.0 satellites (Starlink V1 L4). The company’s fifth dedicated Starlink launch overall, Falcon 9 booster B1056 will launch for the fourth time in support of the Starlink V1 L4 mission, becoming the fourth SpaceX rocket to do so in barely three months. While still impressive and important, B1056’s fourth mission could be record-setting for an entirely different reason.

Designed to enable at least 10 flights per booster with minimal refurbishment in between, SpaceX’s latest Falcon 9 ‘Block 5’ upgrade debuted in May 2018 and has enabled a marked improvement in both reliability and reusability. One record set just a month after that debut – and, unintuitively by a pre-Block 5 booster – has nevertheless stubbornly held over the 20 months since then. Known as booster turnaround time, the measure effectively represents the practical limits of a given rocket’s reusability by measuring how long it takes any specific vehicle to launch, be recovered, and launch again. With a little luck, Falcon 9 B1056 could break SpaceX’s existing turnaround record by a healthy margin just a few hours from now.

In first place, Falcon 9 Block 4 booster B1045 holds SpaceX’s standing booster turnaround record after launching back-to-back NASA missions just 71 days apart in April and June 2018. In second place, two Falcon Heavy Block 5 boosters (B1052, B1053) and one Falcon 9 Block 5 booster (B1048) are tied, each having managed 74-day turnarounds.

Falcon 9 B1045 launched for the second time in 71 days in June 2018, a record that still stands today. (Teslarati)
Falcon Heavy Block 5 side boosters B1052 and B1053 nearly broke B1045’s record in April and June 2019, achieving a 74-day turnaround. (SpaceX)

Now, Falcon 9 booster B1056 could potentially break SpaceX’s 71-day record by almost 9 days (15%) in spite of the fact that it has already performed three orbital-class launches in the last 10 months. Additionally, its third and most recent launch was a high-energy satellite mission that put B1056 through a relatively fast and hot atmospheric reentry, whereas Falcon 9 B1052, B1053, and B1045 all set their turnaround records after comparatively gentle inaugural launches, reentries, and landings.

This is all to say that B1056 breaking SpaceX’s booster turnaround record makes it feel a bit like the company isn’t really trying to break any internal records and certainly isn’t close to pushing the Falcon Block 5 design to its reusability limits. Some 18 months ago, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell revealed that Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters were already down to just four weeks of refurbishment a handful of months after the upgrade’s launch debut.

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In the history of orbital-class reusable spacecraft and rockets, NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis – backed by an annual operations budget on the order of $1 billion and hundreds of dedicated refurbishment engineers and technicians – holds a global turnaround record of 54 days. By the time SpaceX breaks that record, Falcon booster reusability will almost certainly be one or even two magnitudes cheaper and simpler than the Space Shuttle.

In fact, if it manages to successfully launch and land later today, Falcon 9 B1056 could be poised to break its own turnaround record later this year, given that Starlink v1.0 launches enable slightly gentler recovery conditions relative to the booster’s previous Kacific-1 mission.

Falcon 9 B1056 is currently scheduled to lift off on its fourth orbital-class launch – carrying 60 Starlink v1.0 satellites – no earlier than (NET) 10:05 am EST (15:05 UTC), February 17th, and will attempt a routine landing aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You a bit less than nine minutes later. Some 30-45 minutes after launch, Falcon 9’s payload fairing halves – having reentered Earth’s atmosphere and deployed parafoils – will attempt their third simultaneous landing in the nets of twin recovery ships GO Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) and Ms. Chief. Tune in to SpaceX.com/webcast around 9:50 am EST (14:50 UTC) to catch Falcon 9’s Starlink V1 L4 launch live.

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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 clears the air on Cybertruck ‘deactivation’ video that is obviously fake

Tesla has cleared the air on the viral video, stating it is fake.

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8 hours ago

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August 11, 2025

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Credit: Cybertruck | X

Tesla has cleared the air regarding a video that has been circulating, where the owner claims his Cybertruck was “deactivated” by the company while he was driving.

The video was shared on X and showed a driver pulled over on the side of the road, claiming his Cybertruck had been deactivated by Tesla in the middle of traffic. It is very obviously fake to those who know the company, but these kinds of things have a tendency to pick up steam.

The video shows a screen that says:

“Tesla Cybertruck De-Activated. Critical Issue Detected | Contact Customer Service, Comply with Cease & Desist to Re-Activate. Update Failed, Return to Dealer.”

The same person who posted the video also shared an image of what appears to be a Cease and Desist letter from Tesla, but it is also likely fake:

The company finally responded to the video on Monday afternoon, stating that the video is, in fact, fake, reiterating that it will not disable vehicles remotely for any reason.

It is a shame that these types of things happen, especially as people are prone to believe anything they see on the internet. As there is so much misinformation circulating surrounding Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, it is no surprise that someone would leverage the situation for their own benefit.

If that Cease and Desist letter is not real, perhaps the next one might be. These types of things can truly cause damage to a company’s reputation, and someone getting an idea that Tesla would remotely deactivate a car could prevent them from buying one.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk is stepping up for Tesla Service in a big way

Elon Musk has stepped up to resolve a handful of customer issues regarding vehicle service.

Published

9 hours ago

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August 11, 2025

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tesla service
Credit: Tesla

Elon Musk is stepping up to help customers in a big way, especially when they are having issues with Tesla’s Service.

Perhaps one of the biggest advantages Tesla owners have is access to Musk through X, his social media platform. Over the years, we’ve seen Tesla add features, refine its cars’ performance, and more, all through asking Musk directly through a post.

Now, Musk is stepping up in another way by resolving a few Service complaints that customers had.

The first occurred last week when a recall on a Tesla battery was not honored by Service. The company sought $30,000 for a replacement and labor, which was not right. Musk responded that he would personally investigate the matter. The vehicle was fixed at no cost as it was a recall, and was ready for pickup the next day.

It also revealed a new strategy Tesla is using to combat service communication issues:

Tesla creates clever solution to simplify and improve its Service

The next occurred with a Cybertruck owner who was in Japan. Their car was parked at an airport in the U.S. and had lost a vast majority of its state of charge, leaving them just fifty miles of range at the time.

Musk reached out to the owner and said Service will take care of the car and will investigate the cause of the battery drain:

There are not too many companies out there where the CEO will get involved with individual issues like these. It’s pretty exclusive to Tesla, as Musk has commonly stepped up to resolve complaints with vehicles or to confront features that some owners might find useful.

Service has been a weak point of the company for some time, but it has worked to refine and resolve customer complaints by building more Service Centers across the world that can handle these issues.

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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms Robotaxi is opening to the public: here’s when

Anyone will be able to request a Tesla Robotaxi in September, Elon Musk said this morning.

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11 hours ago

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August 11, 2025

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company’s Robotaxi platform is opening to the public, and he even gave a timeline for when anyone will be able to access one for a ride.

Tesla’s Robotaxi platform launched to a small group on June 22 in Austin, Texas. The company has continued to expand the number of riders and its geofence over the past month and a half.

Tesla officially launches Robotaxi service with no driver

Additionally, it launched rides in the Bay Area of California, but it differs slightly, as the Texas Robotaxi platform does not utilize a Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat. In California, the monitor sits in the driver’s seat.

As the geofence, service areas, and testing populations expand, Tesla fans are awaiting their elusive emails that enable their ability to use the Robotaxi platform. It now seems that the email will come soon, as Musk said Tesla will open up public access to Robotaxi next month:

Tesla has been prioritizing safety over anything else with the launch of the Robotaxi platform, which is why it has been slow to push invitations to new riders. It is confident in the abilities of the platform and its Full Self-Driving suite, which has been proven with data.

However, even a single accident could set Tesla back years in terms of its development of self-driving cars. It is not a risk it is willing to take.

Musk said during the recent Q2 Earnings Call:

“We need to make sure it works when the vehicles are fully under our control. It’s kind of one step at a time here. We don’t want to jump the gun. As I said, we’re being paranoid about safety. But I guess next year is I’d say confidently next year. I’m not sure when next year, but confidently next year, people would be able to add or subtract their car to the Tesla, Inc. fleet.”

As the platform will expand in Austin and the Bay Area for anyone, Tesla still continues to reiterate that Robotaxi will be available for everyone sometime next year, as Musk said in the quote above.

Things will continue to improve over time, and Tesla will likely expand its geofence in both regions in the coming weeks. It has already done that in Austin twice, with about a doubling in size occurring both times.

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