The Federal Aviation Administration has closed its review of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 9 mishap, clearing the way for the next launch attempt as soon as August 24. 

Flight 9 ended with the loss of both the Super Heavy booster and the upper stage, but regulators accepted SpaceX’s findings that a fuel component failure was the root cause. No public safety concerns were reported from the incident.

Starship recovery lessons

SpaceX noted that Flight 9 marked the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster. Unlike prior attempts, the company did not try a tower “chopsticks” recovery, opting instead for an offshore return that ended in a destructive breakup. The upper stage was also lost over the Indian Ocean. 

As per the FAA in its statement, “There are no reports of public injury or damage to public property. The FAA oversaw and accepted the findings of the SpaceX-led investigation. The final mishap report cites the probable root cause for the loss of the Starship vehicle as a failure of a fuel component. SpaceX identified corrective actions to prevent a reoccurrence of the event.”

SpaceX also highlighted that Flight 9’s debris did not harm any wildlife. “SpaceX works with an experienced global response provider to retrieve any debris that may wash up in South Texas and/or Mexico as a result of Starship flight test operations. During the survey of the expected debris field from the booster, there was no evidence of any floating or deceased marine life that would signal booster debris impact harmed animals in the vicinity,” the private space company noted.

Expanding test objectives

To mitigate risks, SpaceX plans to adjust return angles for future flights and conduct additional landing burn tests on Flight 10. SpaceX will attempt a Gulf splashdown for Flight 10 once more, instead of a tower capture, according to a report from the Boston Herald.

The upcoming Starship Flight 10, which will be launching from Starbase in Texas, will also mark SpaceX’s attempt to perform its first payload deployment and an in-space Raptor relight. Despite recent setbacks, which include the last three flights ending with the upper stage experiencing a rapid unscheduled disassembly (RUD), Starship remains central to NASA’s Artemis program, with a variant tapped as the human landing system for Artemis III, the first since the Apollo program. 

Standing more than 400 feet tall and generating 16 million pounds of thrust, Starship remains the most powerful rocket flown, though it has yet to complete an orbital mission. The FAA has expanded SpaceX’s license to allow up to 25 Starship flights annually from Texas.

A Tesla VP has confirmed that the electric vehicle maker will be rolling out key improvements for the Cybertruck’s Full Self-Driving with the release for V14. The update was shared in a post on social media platform X.

The Cybertruck’s FSD

While FSD has been released for the Cybertruck, the all-electric pickup truck is still lacking a number of key features that are currently available in the company’s other vehicles like the Model Y, which is substantially more affordable. These include functions like Actually Smart Summon (ASS), which is very convenient for owners. Key accessories that were initially announced for the Cybertruck, such as the Range Extender, have been canceled as well. 

It was then no surprise that Cybertruck owners have taken to social media platforms like X to express their disdain at their vehicles’ missing features. Among these owners was @cybrtrkguy, who stated that the long list of missing Cybertruck features gives the impression that the all-electric pickup truck is just an afterthought at the electric vehicle maker.

Tesla’s response

Interestingly enough, Tesla VP, IT/AI-Infra, Apps, Infosec and Vehicle Service Operations Raj Jegannathan responded to the Cybertruck owner’s post, stating that improvements for the all-electric pickup truck are coming soon. This response was mostly received positively, though some X users joked that Tesla’s “coming soon” announcements tend to become quite longer than expected. 

Seemingly to provide more context, the Tesla VP clarified that the upcoming FSD V14 update will include improvements for the Cybertruck’s Full Self-Driving system. “V14 includes improvements for CT on FSD,” Jegannathan wrote. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted at FSD V14’s improvements. In a post on X, Musk stated that “the FSD release in about 6 weeks will be a dramatic gain with a 10X higher parameter count and many other improvements. It’s going through training & testing now. Once we confirm real-world safety of FSD 14, which we think will be amazing, the car will nag you much less.”

A Tesla executive has issued a key comment about a recent semi fire incident which resulted in the shutdown of Golden State (5) Freeway’s southbound lanes on Saturday.

Contrary to speculations from anti-electric vehicle critics, the flames reportedly began in the diesel truck carrying the Teslas, not the electric vehicles themselves.

The incident

As noted in an ABC7 report, a car carrier loaded with eight Teslas caught fire on the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar late Saturday, forcing authorities to close southbound lanes as responders battled flames and smoke. The fire was initially reported around 5:35 p.m., and it left six Teslas destroyed. The car carrier truck was heavily damaged as well. 

The Los Angeles Fire Department declared the fire out roughly four hours later, at 9:30 p.m. No injuries were reported from the incident. The driver of the semi was also unharmed. However, the fire caused notable congestion in traffic as officials worked to reopen the freeway. Truck lanes remained closed for hours to manage hazardous runoff and debris.

Tesla’s context

Amidst reports of the incident, rumors online emerged suggesting that Teslas being transported likely caused the blaze. Fortunately, Tesla VP for Supply Chain Roshan Thomas clarified that this was not the case. He also noted that Tesla is working really hard to ensure that the vehicles that were damaged in the unfortunate incident are replaced as quickly as possible.

“The third-party logistics (3PL) semi-truck caught fire first. Thankfully, the driver is ok; unfortunately the Teslas sustained damage. We will be looking to replace the vehicles for our intended customers as soon as we can. A very unfortunate accident,” the Tesla VP wrote in a post on X.