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SpaceX’s first crewed NASA launches remain on schedule for 2018
Plenty of work lies ahead of both companies, but progress abounds
Amidst a seemingly relaxed July for SpaceX, the company has been working intently with NASA to prepare for its first Commercial Crew mission in as few as seven months. NASA’s combination of strict technical requirements and partial flexibility with the famously fast-moving aerospace company have resulted in a collaborative environment that Elon Musk recently deemed beneficial to the company.
As NASA works with the company to ensure that Dragon 2 is as safe as realistically possible, SpaceX has begun several rounds of advanced testing and training. NASA astronauts are in the process of learning how to operate Dragon 2, and a near-production version of the vehicle’s control software and hardware has been integrated to allow for accurate simulations as practice. Meanwhile, Department of Defense personnel that will be tasked with recovering Dragons and crew from the ocean have begun developing those procedures with a mockup capsule.
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- DoD personnel began initial recovery procedure development in July. (SpaceX)
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- NASA astronauts utilizing the Dragon 2 simulator as they practice for the first crewed launch in June 2018. (SpaceX)
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- A look inside Crew Dragon’s bare crew compartment. (SpaceX)
At SpaceX’s Hawthorne manufacturing facilities, four separate Crew Dragons are in different states of assembly. While one of those vehicles is intended solely for qualification testing, the three remaining Dragons will respectively launch into low Earth orbit throughout the course of 2018, assuming schedules remain firm. Structural testing and verification of the qualification Dragon was completed as of July 24th, and the first flightworthy Dragon has undergone testing of its pressure vessel to ensure that there are no leaks.
Looking forward to launching @NASA astronauts to the International Space Station next year!https://t.co/qoLtTEP4L8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 3, 2017
Deemed Demo-1 in relation to the first flight of Dragon being Demonstration Flight 1, SpaceX workers are almost ready to integrate the service section and pressure vessel compartments. The pressure vessel is better known as the crew compartment, while the service section is where all the necessary flight and life support systems are contained. Dragon’s “claw” – used to grab hold of the ISS upon docking – and engines have also passed qualification tests.
Different parts of the Demo-1 Dragon in Hawthorne. The crew compartment or pressure vessel can be seen on the left, while the heat shield is front and center. A second and possibly third Crew Dragon pressure vessel can be seen in the background. (SpaceX)
Possibly the most exciting of all, SpaceX has conducted the first pressurized tests of its in-house space suits with NASA crew members. While non-insiders have yet to catch a glimpse of the company’s suits, those lucky enough to have stolen a glance have indicated that they look awesome. As the company progresses to actual vacuum testing of the suits, fans can likely look forward to a reveal. While we don’t yet have a view of SpaceX suits, the July 24th Commercial Crew update did provide the first public photos of SpaceX’s crew access arm, set to be installed at the LC-39A launch pad later this year.
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- NASA astronauts check out SpaceX’s recently-completed crew access arm. (SpaceX)
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- Whether or not you can parse NASA’s infamous acronym and jargon-heavy language, it’s clear that SpaceX has a considerable amount of work ahead to make their February 2018 deadline. (NASA)
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- For those with extreme willpower, a close study of this graphic provides a good idea of where both SpaceX and Boeing are as they head to first CCP launches. (NASA)
Aside from an array of milestones ahead for the company, the only major tasks yet to be finished are design finalization for Crew Dragon’s seat mechanisms and control displays. SpaceX’s Demonstration 1 and 2 launch dates of February and June 2018 respectively remain steady as of this late-July update. Delays are always possible and even likely, but chances are good that SpaceX will be ready to conduct the first launch of crew to the ISS before the end of next year.
The Tesla Model Y L is arguably the most hyped trim of the all-electric crossover, other than the Performance configuration that comes with white-knuckle speed and sports car-level handling.
However, it is not all perfect. Tesla owners in China who took delivery of the Model Y L, denoted with an L to highlight its longer wheelbase, are experiencing what they are referring to as “collapsing” of the rear wheels, as suspension issues appear to be an issue with some of the builds.
🚨 Model Y L owners in China report rear suspension sag
• Six-seat long-wheelbase Y. Shanghai. On sale since August 2025
• Owners say the rear tire-to-arch gap shrinks after mileage or a full load. Some cases after about 9,000 km loaded. Others near 30,000 km
• Tesla service… pic.twitter.com/Lr6i5Tbi07— Joe Hansen (@joehansen) September 1, 2026
The gap between the wheel arch and tire has narrowed to the point that “not even a single finger” could fit, according to a report from Car News China. The failures are not tied to a specific mileage, as one owner said that after just 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), they noticed the suspension issue when their car was fully loaded.
Another one had the issue at 30,000 kilometers (18,640 miles) and noticed that the wheel gap shrank to two fingers, so not as drastic as the person who reported a similar issue at 9,000 km.
Tesla Model Y L is gaining momentum in China’s premium segment
Along with the visual recognition of the issue, others are saying the sagging is causing abnormal wear on the inside of the tires. Extra weight and instant torque already provide additional stress on the tires in electric vehicles during normal operation, so it is no surprise that this is another complaint.
There has been no recall issued by Tesla, and the company has not yet publicly acknowledged the issue.
Some are suggesting that owners use a “finger test” to self-diagnose whether there is an issue with the suspension. There should be four fingers between the tire and the wheel well; anything less than that starts to get dicey.
Tesla is starting to truly tease and hype its groundbreaking Cybercab event, which takes place tomorrow in Austin, Texas. It will be the first time members of the public will be able to ride in a Cybercab, a vehicle without any manual controls, on public roads.
Tesla has been dropping some hype on X over the past several days, but this morning, the excitement has truly started to build up for the event. Although Cybercab has been unveiled before, this is truly Tesla’s announcement that it is ready to start offering autonomous rides for public passengers in its new ride-hailing-geared vehicle for the first time.
The hype has started with a variety of different social media posts that are a true indication that Tesla is preparing for something big. Teasing so much of the potential of Cybercab, including its ability to truly revolutionize how people hail rides for local travel, is what the big idea for the event entails. The time that many Tesla owners, fans, and investors have been waiting for is potentially here:
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 2, 2026
The event has remained slim on details. Even invitees are still awaiting true details about what the event will entail, where they’ll go, and what is in store for the evening. This is pretty typical for an event run by Tesla; they keep things under wraps for the most part until the very last minute.
However, there is no secret about what the real intention of Tesla is for this event: it is going to be a huge reveal party for a vehicle that has no steering wheel and no pedals. It is a truly massive step for the company moving forward.
No steering wheel, no pedals
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) September 2, 2026
Speculation persists as to whether this is going to be an event that simply announces that rides will begin with the Cybercab, or it will be something more substantial. Tesla has said in the past that they plan to sell the Cybercab to the general public in what could become a great way to earn passive income by adding it to a more global fleet of Robotaxi-geared vehicles.
Tomorrow, the show begins in Austin, and the Cybercab goes live at some capacity; we just don’t know exactly how quite yet.
News
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
SpaceX filed with the FCC for Starship Flight 14, its first true orbital launch attempt.
SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to fly Starlink terminals during Starship’s fourteenth flight test, and the filing lays out a genuine trip to orbit, something the program has never attempted.
Every Starship flight so far, including Flight 13’s successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24, has flown a suborbital arc that ends with the ship reentering the atmosphere within the same hour it launches. The FCC paperwork describes a mission profile built around an actual orbital insertion instead.
The payload is the other half of the story. Flight 13 carried 20 production Starlink V3 satellites, but because that mission never reached orbit, the satellites reentered along with the ship rather than joining the constellation, something Teslarati covered in detail after SpaceX released footage shot from one of those satellites as it drifted away from Starship in space. Flight 14 is designed to close that gap. If the orbital insertion holds, the roughly 20 V3 satellites onboard would separate into an operational orbit and could eventually go into service, each one rated for about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity by SpaceX’s own account.
SpaceX announces new Starbase for ‘thousands of Starship launches annually’
Elon Musk first flagged the orbital attempt during SpaceX’s August 4 earnings call, the company’s first as a public entity following its June IPO under the ticker SPCX. He also floated catching the ship with the Starbase tower on the same flight, an idea he walked back on August 20, saying the catch attempt would more likely come “in a few months,” as Teslarati reported at the time. Flight 14 will instead target a splashdown for the ship in the Indian Ocean, the same recovery method used since Flight 12.
Hardware has been catching up to the ambition. Booster 21 completed a full 33-engine static fire on August 28, and Ship 41 finished its own six-engine test the week before. An airspace briefing circulated to pilots on August 20 listed September 15 as the target date, later than the end of August window Musk mentioned on the earnings call, though SpaceX has not confirmed a launch date publicly and Starship schedules routinely slip while hardware and FAA paperwork line up.
The FCC filing itself does not guarantee a launch date. It covers communications authority, and not flight readiness, considering SpaceX still needs Ship 41 fully stacked and cleared by the FAA before Flight 14 can fly. But the filing is a real marker of intent and it puts a specific regulatory process behind what had so far only been Musk’s word on the earnings call.
Tesla Model Y L gets suspension complaints in over odd issue China
Tesla Cybercab event gains steam ahead of massive launch
