Connect with us
Falcon Heavy's 27 engines on display at 39A. The white material on the left and right engines are indicative of flight-proven boosters. (SpaceX) Falcon Heavy's 27 engines on display at 39A. The white material on the left and right engines are indicative of flight-proven boosters. (SpaceX)

News

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch imminent as Elon Musk unveils first photos

Published

on

For the first time in SpaceX’s history, the company is close enough to the inaugural launch of its massive Falcon Heavy rocket that the vast majority of the vehicle is already at Cape Canaveral, FL, and all three of its first stages have been mated together.

We know this because Elon Musk took to Instagram and Twitter last night and posted the first-ever real-life photos of the launch vehicle, currently stationed at the Horizaontal Integration Facility (HIF) at SpaceX’s LC-39A launch pad.

At launch, Falcon Heavy will only be surpassed in thrust and payload by the megarockets of the 1960s, the US Saturn V and the Soviet N-1. Best described by an eager employee, Falcon Heavy will have the same thrust as fifteen 747 Jumbo Jets at full throttle, and could nearly carry a fully-loaded 737 passenger jet into low Earth orbit (LEO) in a fully expendable configuration.

Over the past several weeks of inactivity, SpaceX’s pad technicians have been hard at work modifying the LC-39A launch pad and its Transporter/Erector/Launcher (TEL) to support the inaugural launch of Falcon Heavy. This mainly involved considerably upgrading the water deluge system used to muzzle the impact of the sheer sound created at launch, but also required the addition of four more hold-down clamps, necessary to abort a launch after engine ignition. An additional array of communications wiring and umbilical connections for fueling have also likely been added to the TEL in order to support the requirements of what are essentially three simultaneous Falcon 9 launches.

Pad 39A’s TEL undergoing modifications. Hold-down clamps are the grey enclosures seen at the end of the TEL. Note the worker standing in the middle for a sense of scale. (Tom Cross/Teslarati)

A lack of frenetic activity at the pad in the last handful of days suggests that those modifications are nearly complete, and SpaceX fans and followers are now eagerly awaiting the rollback of the TEL to 39A’s integration facilities, where Falcon Heavy will soon after be integrated with the TEL for the first time ever. After this milestones, we can expected Falcon Heavy to be rolled out the pad for what is known as a wet dress rehearsal (WDR), akin to a launch or static fire but without any engine ignition. It’s possible that a bug-free WDR could fluidly transition into the first static fire for the vehicle, but it is probable that SpaceX will take a more cautious approach with this launch campaign. Following the successful completion of the WDR and static fire, Falcon Heavy’s inaugural launch will be imminent. We are potentially no more than 40 days out, the closest SpaceX has ever been to a Falcon Heavy launch.

Of note, the final picture posted by Musk offers an absolutely stunning view of the vehicle’s business end, showing off its 27 Merlin 1D engines and revealing quite obviously that both of Falcon Heavy’s side cores are flight-proven, whereas the center core is new. The photos provided also offer a glimpse of the only component clearly missing, the second stage and its mysterious Tesla Roadster payload. Unconfirmed whispers in the fan community have it on good authority that the Roadster has in fact already been mated to the second stage’s payload adapter, and transport to the Cape and integration with the full Falcon Heavy stack are undoubtedly imminent.

Advertisement

Possibly most significant of all, Musk suggested that the Roadster payload would be sent on a course to Mars, although it has yet to be concluded whether that will be in the form of a general orbit similar to Mars or an actual trans-Martian injection culminating in an orbit around the Red Planet. The former is far more likely, but the latter would be an extraordinarily impressive test of SpaceX hardware in deep space, a necessary precursor for the company’s goals of interplanetary colonization. Time will tell, and in the meantime we can expect a veritable flood of rocket and payload photos as SpaceX rapidly approaches a historic moment for the company.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram as we go bring you live video and behind the scenes coverage from Cape Canaveral at each SpaceX launch!

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla Sweden faced with fresh strike from elevator company

Telecom and elevator service providers are the latest to join the widening labor blockade against the EV maker.

Published

on

Credit: NicklasNilsso14/X

Tesla’s operations in Sweden are facing fresh pressure as multiple unions intensify their long-running dispute against the electric vehicle maker. Industrial groups IF Metall and Seko have announced new blockades affecting elevator maintenance and telecom services, escalating their ongoing conflict with Tesla Sweden.

Work stoppages expand to elevator maintenance

Starting October 29, elevator manufacturer Cibes Kalea Sverige will halt all service and maintenance work at Tesla’s facilities under a full blockade ordered by IF Metall. The union’s move targets elevator service visits, which are typically required four times a year in Sweden. Cibes Kalea employs around 70 workers across six sites in Sweden and provides both passenger and freight elevator systems to clients, including Tesla, as noted in a report from Dagens Arbete.

The industrial action follows months of escalating measures from IF Metall, which has aimed to pressure Tesla into signing a collective bargaining agreement. Since early September, the union has initiated several blockades across Tesla’s Swedish network, including work stoppages involving suppliers like Holtab and Linde Material Handling. This was despite Sweden’s Mediation Institute throwing in the towel at the unions and Tesla’s conflict.

Telecom workers join expanding blockade

In a separate escalation, Seko, another major Swedish union, announced a strike targeting Tesla’s telecommunications infrastructure. “We are now putting a notice on the telecom area and this means that when it comes to networks, fiber or telephony, for example, we will not help where Tesla needs either service, maintenance or new installation of these parts,” Seko chair Gabriella Lavecchia told Sveriges Radio.

Seko has already initiated blockades against Tesla’s postal service and charging stations. The union expects the telecom blockade to have even broader effects given Tesla’s reliance on connectivity for its charging and digital services.

Advertisement

With 12 strike notices issued in just a few weeks, the conflict shows no signs of easing as unions continue to coordinate pressure through multiple sectors. “There aren’t many companies in Sweden today that don’t need telephony, fiber, networks, and I would guess that Tesla needs it more than many others,” Lavecchia said.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla shares rare glimpse of Giga Shanghai, posts bullish teaser for Model Y L deliveries

The video was shared by the electric vehicle maker on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla China

Tesla China has posted a rather optimistic teaser of Giga Shanghai and this quarter’s Model Y L deliveries. The video was shared by the electric vehicle maker on Chinese social media platform Weibo. 

Giga Shanghai on full throttle

The recently shared Weibo video featured a rather rare glimpse of the exterior of Giga Shanghai, which, unlike Giga Texas, the Fremont Factory, and Giga Berlin, reportedly no longer allows drone flyovers. As noted by Tesla China in its Weibo post, Giga Shanghai has finished its vehicle shipping center, which allows the company to ship cars efficiently. 

Tesla China posted a video of numerous Model Y vehicles being loaded onto car carrier trucks. And as could be seen in the video, a good number of the Model Ys being shipped from Giga Shanghai were Model Y L units, the all-electric crossover’s six-seat, extended wheelbase variant that only started deliveries last month. 

Insurance registration reports

Tesla China does seem to be moving at full throttle this Q4 2025. Whisper numbers from industry watchers have suggested that the electric vehicle maker recorded 16,500 new vehicle registrations in the week of October 13-19. Considering that Tesla China typically focuses on exports during the first weeks of a quarter, the company’s numbers this Q4 could be quite impressive.

For context, Tesla China saw 5,020 new vehicle registrations in the week ending October 5 and 11,300 new vehicle registrations in the week ending October 12, 2025. The momentum of the Model Y L is also building up, with previous reports stating that the extended wheelbase, six-seat Model Y variant was able to help boost Tesla China’s wholesale numbers to 90,812 units in September, becoming the country’s fourth best-selling mid-to-large SUV in the process.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Tesla is looking to conduct FSD tests in new Swedish city: report

The proposal appears to have been received rather positively by one of the city’s officials.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East/X

Recent reports have suggested that Tesla is looking at another city in Sweden to test its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system on public roads. The proposal appears to have been received rather positively by one of the city’s officials.

Tesla FSD tests in Sweden

FSD has already been deployed in numerous territories such as the United States, China, and Australia. However, the system is yet to be released in Europe. As per a recent report from Värmlands Folkblad, Tesla has sent a request for FSD testing to the capital of Värmland, Karlstad. As noted in a CarUp report, Tesla is already testing FSD on motorways after the company secured permission from the Swedish Transport Agency. 

The Municipality of Karlstad has reportedly not issued a decision regarding Tesla’s request yet, though lawmakers seem open to the idea of FSD being tested on public roads. In a comment to VF, municipal councilor Linda Larsson stated that FSD tests in Karlstad “sounds interesting.” Tesla’s FSD tests, if they are approved, will still use safety drivers behind the wheel who will be ready to intervene at any time. 

Tesla pledges to work with the municipality

In its request, Tesla noted that Karlstad is an interesting municipality in which to conduct its tests. The company also stated that it would conduct its operations and tests in close collaboration with the municipality, as well as local entities. Considering the municipal councilor’s comments, it does appear that Tesla might have a solid chance at attaining permission to test FSD on Karlstad’s roads. 

Tesla’s success for FSD tests in Sweden has been mixed. A few months ago, reports emerged stating that the company’s request to test FSD in Stockholm had been rejected by the Swedish Traffic Department. 

Advertisement

“The Traffic Office is currently working on updating its approach to automation. At the same time, the city and the office are under heavy pressure from other ongoing innovation tests. Our ambition is to actively participate in and learn from the continued development in the field of automation. 

“Based on this, and in combination with the fact that the current test is the first of its kind, which entails certain risks for both infrastructure and third parties, and that it is planned to be carried out throughout the city, the City of Stockholm considers it is currently not possible to approve the implementation of the test,” the Swedish Traffic Department stated.

Continue Reading

Trending