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SpaceX rolls largest rocket booster ever built to the launch pad
Six weeks after assembly began, SpaceX has completed Starship’s first true Super Heavy booster prototype, rolled it out of its ‘high bay’ nest, and installed the building-sized rocket at the launch pad.
Standing some 65 meters (~215 ft) tall, Super Heavy Booster 3 (B3) is the same height as an entire two-stage Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft and is expected to singlehandedly weigh six times more than a fully-fueled Falcon 9 when loaded with liquid oxygen and methane propellant. Once Super Heavies are eventually outfitted with a full 32 Raptors, more engines than any other rocket in history, the booster will also produce more than twice the thrust of NASA’s Saturn V Moon rocket – still the most powerful vehicle ever successfully flown.
Assembled out of 36 steel rings, three tank domes, and dozens of other major components, Super Heavy B3 borrows heavily from the Starship production apparatus SpaceX has built and refined over the last ~18 months. Boosters use the same welding and integration jigs, facilities, and strategies and are built out of the same steel rings, stringers, stiffeners, and dome ‘gores.’
In some ways, Super Heavy boosters are actually a good deal simpler than Starships, which require a custom nose cone, secondary ‘header’ tanks, extra plumbing, actuating flaps, a heat shield with thousands of tiles, and more. Boosters, by comparison, require no heat shield and only need two main tanks made out of identical steel rings. However, all three Super Heavy domes (forward, common, and thrust) are mostly custom or require major modifications on top of parts shared with Starship domes.
Speaking on June 30th, Elon Musk revealed that Booster 3 was “very hard to build” and would be exclusively used for ground tests, reiterating that Super Heavy B4 is currently the first booster scheduled to fly. Curiously, the SpaceX CEO also said that “much of [Super Heavy’s] design” would be changed between Booster 3 and Booster 4, raising questions about what the company hopes to gain from Booster 3 “ground tests.”
Regardless, those tests are now on track to begin as early as Monday, July 6th after SpaceX transported Super Heavy Booster 3 from the factory to the launch pad and rapidly installed the rocket on a test platform on July 1st. Following in the footsteps of Starship, Super Heavy’s first hurdle will likely be an ambient proof test, in which nitrogen gas is used to check for leaks and verify general structural integrity under pressure.
Once complete, Booster 3 will be put through a cryogenic proof test, effectively replacing gaseous nitrogen with its supercooled liquid equivalent to simulate the immense thermal and mechanical stress incurred by similarly cold liquid oxygen and methane propellant. How exactly that test will be done is unclear given that Super Heavy can feasibly hold more than 3100 tons of liquid nitrogen and nowhere near that much storage capacity has been installed. The most important goal of cryo proof testing is to demonstrate that Super Heavy is structurally sound with its tanks pressurized to nominal flight pressures – likely at least 7-8 bar (~100-120 psi).
If successful, there are two possible routes SpaceX could go: more cryogenic proof testing at higher (and thus potentially destructive) pressures or static fire testing with one or several Raptor engines installed. Given Musk’s statement that the first flightworthy Super Heavy booster would implement major design changes, it’s unclear if Booster 3 is of a high enough fidelity to warrant static fire testing or if SpaceX has effectively turned the Super Heavy prototype into a massive ‘test tank’ instead.
Elon Musk
Tesla scrambles after Musk sidekick exit, CEO takes over sales
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly overseeing sales in North America and Europe, Bloomberg reports.

Tesla scrambled its executives around following the exit of CEO Elon Musk’s sidekick last week, Omead Afshar. Afshar was relieved of his duties as Head of Sales for both North America and Europe.
Bloomberg is reporting that Musk is now overseeing both regions for sales, according to sources familiar with the matter. Afshar left the company last week, likely due to slow sales in both markets, ending a seven-year term with the electric automaker.
Tesla’s Omead Afshar, known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man, leaves company: reports
Afshar was promoted to the role late last year as Musk was becoming more involved in the road to the White House with President Donald Trump.
Afshar, whose LinkedIn account stated he was working within the “Office of the CEO,” was known as Musk’s right-hand man for years.
Additionally, Tom Zhu, currently the Senior Vice President of Automotive at Tesla, will oversee sales in Asia, according to the report.
It is a scramble by Tesla to get the company’s proven executives over the pain points the automaker has found halfway through the year. Sales are looking to be close to the 1.8 million vehicles the company delivered in both of the past two years.
Tesla is pivoting to pay more attention to the struggling automotive sales that it has felt over the past six months. Although it is still performing well and is the best-selling EV maker by a long way, it is struggling to find growth despite redesigning its vehicles and launching new tech and improvements within them.
The company is also looking to focus more on its deployment of autonomous tech, especially as it recently launched its Robotaxi platform in Austin just over a week ago.
However, while this is the long-term catalyst for Tesla, sales still need some work, and it appears the company’s strategy is to put its biggest guns on its biggest problems.
News
Tesla upgrades Model 3 and Model Y in China, hikes price for long-range sedan
Tesla’s long-range Model 3 now comes with a higher CLTC-rated range of 753 km (468 miles).

Tesla has rolled out a series of quiet upgrades to its Model 3 and Model Y in China, enhancing range and performance for long-range variants. The updates come with a price hike for the Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive, which now costs RMB 285,500 (about $39,300), up RMB 10,000 ($1,400) from the previous price.
Model 3 gets acceleration boost, extended range
Tesla’s long-range Model 3 now comes with a higher CLTC-rated range of 753 km (468 miles), up from 713 km (443 miles), and a faster 0–100 km/h acceleration time of 3.8 seconds, down from 4.4 seconds. These changes suggest that Tesla has bundled the previously optional Acceleration Boost for the Model 3, once priced at RMB 14,100 ($1,968), as a standard feature.
Delivery wait times for the long-range Model 3 have also been shortened, from 3–5 weeks to just 1–3 weeks, as per CNEV Post. No changes were made to the entry-level RWD or Performance versions, which retain their RMB 235,500 and RMB 339,500 price points, respectively. Wait times for those trims also remain at 1–3 weeks and 8–10 weeks.
Model Y range increases, pricing holds steady
The Model Y Long Range has also seen its CLTC-rated range increase from 719 km (447 miles) to 750 km (466 miles), though its price remains unchanged at RMB 313,500 ($43,759). The model maintains a 0–100 km/h time of 4.3 seconds.
Tesla also updated delivery times for the Model Y lineup. The Long Range variant now shows a wait time of 1–3 weeks, an improvement from the previous 3–5 weeks. The entry-level RWD version maintained its starting price of RMB 263,500, though its delivery window is now shorter at 2–4 weeks.
Tesla continues to offer several purchase incentives in China, including an RMB 8,000 discount for select paint options, an RMB 8,000 insurance subsidy, and five years of interest-free financing for eligible variants.
News
Tesla China registrations hit 20.7k in final week of June, highest in Q2
The final week of June stands as the second-highest of 2025 and the best-performing week of the quarter.

Tesla China recorded 20,680 domestic insurance registrations during the week of June 23–29, marking its highest weekly total in the second quarter of 2025.
The figure represents a 49.3% increase from the previous week and a 46.7% improvement year-over-year, suggesting growing domestic momentum for the electric vehicle maker in Q2’s final weeks.
Q2 closes with a boost despite year-on-year dip
The strong week helped lift Tesla’s performance for the quarter, though Q2 totals remain down 4.6% quarter-over-quarter and 10.9% year-over-year, according to industry watchers. Despite these declines, the last week of June stands as the second-highest of 2025 and the best-performing week of the quarter.
As per industry watchers, Tesla China delivered 15,210 New Model Y units last week, the highest weekly tally since the vehicle’s launch. The Model 3 followed with 5,470 deliveries during the same period. Tesla’s full June and Q2 sales data for China are expected to be released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) in the coming days.
Tesla China and minor Model 3 and Model Y updates
Tesla manufactures the Model 3 and Model Y at its Shanghai facility, which provides vehicles to both domestic and international markets. In May, the automaker reported 38,588 retail sales in China, down 30.1% year-over-year but up 34.3% from April. Exports from Shanghai totaled 23,074 units in May, a 32.9% improvement from the previous year but down 22.4% month-over-month, as noted in a CNEV Post report.
Earlier this week, Tesla introduced minor updates to the long-range versions of the Model 3 and Model Y in China. The refreshed Model 3 saw a modest price increase, while pricing for the updated Model Y Long Range variant remained unchanged. These adjustments come as Tesla continues refining its China lineup amid shifting local demand and increased competition from domestic brands.
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