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SpaceX reveals concrete details about Starship’s first orbital test flight
Via FCC regulatory filings, SpaceX has revealed the first concrete details about Starship and Super Heavy’s first orbital flight test.
Earlier this year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed a shocking NASASpaceflight.com report that the company was working to launch Starship into orbit by July 2021 – the achievement of which would be nothing short of miraculous. Less than two months later, SpaceX has submitted a request for FCC permission to communicate with Starship and Super Heavy before and during an inaugural “orbital test flight” scheduled no earlier than (NET) June 20th.
Oddly, the FCC application indicates some truly unusual plans relative to the rest of SpaceX’s intensive Starship test and launch campaign.
“The Starship Orbital test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The Booster stage will separate approximately 170 seconds into flight. The Booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 20 miles from the shore. The Orbital Starship will continue on flying between the Florida Straits. It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted landing approximately 100km (~62 miles) off the northwest coast of Kauai in a soft ocean landing.“
SpaceX FCC STA Request – 13 May 2021
In short, Starship’s first orbital launch attempt aims to send an expendable prototype into space for a brief 90-minute, one-orbit spaceflight, meaning that Starship will travel once around Earth before perform a deorbit burn and attempt its first reentry. If everything goes according to plan, which is far from guaranteed, that Starship prototype will perform “a soft ocean landing” 100 km (62 mi) off the coast of the Hawaiian island Kauai. Back in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX’s first flightworthy Super Heavy booster will launch much like Falcon 9, separate from Starship, perform a flip and boostback burn towards Texas, and “land approximately 20 miles [32 km] from the shore.”
SpaceX says the FCC STA request is meant to “authorize Starship test vehicle communications from the launch pad at Boca Chica TX and the experimental recovery operation” following the launch but makes no reference to recovery assets in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving it ambiguous whether the first flown Super Heavy will be recovered or also perform a “soft ocean landing.” To maximize speed, choosing not to attempt to recover the first orbit-proven Starship is a logical choice for SpaceX, especially given that a fully successful orbital launch, coast, and reentry on the first attempt is a tall order.
Super Heavy, however, will be performing a maneuver virtually identical to the Falcon booster landings SpaceX has aced 75+ times over the last five years. Notably, in an included “timeline of events” for the orbital launch, SpaceX refers to Super Heavy’s landing as a “touchdown,” whereas Starship’s “soft ocean landing” is referred to as a “splashdown,” raising hopes that the booster will attempt to land on an unspecified platform a few dozen miles off the Texas coast.
Given SpaceX’s requested “operation start date” on June 20th, we wont have to wait long to find out. At the moment, SpaceX has yet to even begin stacking the first flightworthy Super Heavy booster prototype, so that NET June 20th target is far more likely to slip into July or August. Regardless, an orbital Starship launch of any kind before the end of 2021 would be nothing short of an engineering and program management tour de force for SpaceX. Stay tuned for updates as SpaceX’s orbital launch pad, Starship prototype, and booster continue to progress towards flight-readiness.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
