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SpaceX fires up six-engine Starship, aces Starlink launch 18 hours apart
SpaceX has rounded out a jam-packed week of spaceflight activity by completing a record-breaking Starship static fire and first East Coast Starlink launch in half a year less than a day apart.
The eventful period began on November 8th, when Crew Dragon C206 departed the International Space Station (ISS) with four Crew-2 astronauts aboard after almost 200 days in orbit. Just eight hours later, Crew Dragon became the first reusable orbital space capsule to successfully reach orbit and return to Earth twice while carrying astronauts. Less than two days later, Falcon 9 launched a new Crew Dragon and four Crew-3 astronauts into orbit on November 10th, marking SpaceX’s fifth successful crewed launch in a year and a half.
On November 11th, 21 hours after liftoff, Dragon C210 aced its first ISS rendezvous and docking and delivered its crew to the station 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Up next, after a week or two of delays and a great deal of anticipation, SpaceX’s first orbital-class Starship prototype completed the first static fire with a full complement of six Raptor engines around 1:13pm EST, November 12th. Originally scheduled to launch just a few hours before that static fire milestone, a Falcon 9 rocket then proceeded to launch Starlink 4-1 – SpaceX’s first dedicated Florida Starlink mission since May 2021 – a little over 18 hours later at 7:19am EST, November 13th.
The Starlink launch was especially spectacular. Graced by a thick bank of fog that almost fully covered the rocket and SpaceX’s LC-40 pad, Falcon 9 ultimately lifted off about half an hour after sunrise, soaring out of mist backlit by the early morning’s golden-hour light. A single-burn launch, Falcon 9’s expendable upper stage successfully deployed all 53 laser-linked Starlink V1.5 satellites just 16 minutes after liftoff, marking the beginning of the SpaceX constellation’s third ‘shell’. Having already completed Shell 1, it will take SpaceX another 29 launches to complete Shell 4, its mostly identical cousin. SpaceX also began launching Shell 2 – a semi-polar band of 720 satellites – in September.
On the Starship side of things, SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk quickly confirmed that Ship 20 had successfully fired up all six of its Raptor engines on the first try, potentially producing up to ~1110 tons (~2.45M lb) of thrust for about three seconds. If all six engines were briefly operated at full thrust, it would make Starship the most powerful active single-core rocket stage ever fired, narrowly beating out Russia’s Proton-M booster. Starship, of course, is an orbital upper stage, not a booster, and its Super Heavy first stage is expected to produce five or six times more thrust – the most powerful rocket booster by a healthy margin.
After Ship 20’s successful first-try six-engine static fire, it’s not clear what SpaceX’s next steps will be but there’s a good chance that the first flightworthy Super Heavy booster (B4) could be up on the docket.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck, and nobody noticed. But to be fair, nobody could have, but it was revealed by the program’s lead engineer that it was aimed toward simplifying manufacturing through a minor change in casting.
After the Cybertruck was given a Top Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for its reputation as the safest pickup on the market, some wondered what had changed about the vehicle.
Tesla makes changes to its vehicles routinely through Over-the-Air software updates, but aesthetic changes are relatively rare. Vehicles go through refreshes every few years, as the Model 3 and Model Y did earlier this year. However, the Cybertruck is one of the vehicles that has not changed much since its launch in late 2023, but it has gone through some minor changes.
Most recently, Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck program’s Lead Engineer, stated that the company had made a minor change to the casting of the all-electric pickup for manufacturing purposes. This change took place in April:
We made a minor change on the casting for manufacturability in April. Our Internal testing shows no difference in crash result but IIHS only officially tested the latest version
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 17, 2025
The change is among the most subtle that can be made, but it makes a massive difference in manufacturing efficiency, build quality, and scalability.
Morrill revealed Tesla’s internal testing showed no difference in crash testing results performed by the IIHS.
The 2025 Cybertruck received stellar ratings in each of the required testing scenarios and categories. The Top Safety Pick+ award is only given if it excels in rigorous crash tests. This requires ‘Good’ ratings in updated small and moderate overlap front, side, roof, and head restraints.
Additionally, it must have advanced front crash prevention in both day and night. Most importantly, the vehicle must have a ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable’ headlights standard on all trims, with the “+ ” specifically demanding the toughest new updated moderate overlap test that checks rear-seat passenger protection alongside driver safety.
Tesla has entered an interesting situation with its Full Self-Driving suite in California, as the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles had adopted an order for a suspension of the company’s sales license, but it immediately put it on hold.
The company has been granted a reprieve as the DMV is giving Tesla an opportunity to “remedy the situation.” After the suspension was recommended for 30 days as a penalty, the DMV said it would give Tesla 90 days to allow the company to come into compliance.
The DMV is accusing Tesla of misleading consumers by using words like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving on its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) features.
The State’s DMV Director, Steve Gordon, said that he hoped “Tesla will find a way to get these misleading statements corrected.” However, Tesla responded to the story on Tuesday, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order for the company using the term Autopilot.
It said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.” It added that “sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
Tesla has used the terms Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but has added the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite, hoping to remedy some of the potential issues that regulators in various areas might have with the labeling of the program.
It might not be too long before Tesla stops catching flak for using the Full Self-Driving name to describe its platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi suite has continued to improve, and this week, vehicles were spotted in Austin without any occupants. CEO Elon Musk would later confirm that Tesla had started testing driverless rides in Austin, hoping to launch rides without any supervision by the end of the year.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck and nobody noticed
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
