March 8, 2026
By Nehal Malik
SpaceX is currently operating at a pace that was once considered impossible, turning orbital rocket launches into something that feels more like a daily airline schedule. This relentless operational cadence was recently on full display during a doubleheader weekend, when the company successfully launched two Falcon 9 rockets from opposite sides of the country and landed both first-stage boosters at sea.
As the company prepares for the first flight test of Starship V3, it’s the perfect time to look back at the milestones that brought us here. From catching falling boosters to historic private spacewalks, these are the moments that defined a new era of space exploration.
The First Successful Landing
Before SpaceX, the idea of a rocket landing itself vertically on a pad after delivering a payload to space was science fiction. That changed on December 21, 2015, when a Falcon 9 first stage returned to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral. This moment proved that orbital-class rockets could be reused, fundamentally changing the economics of space travel.
Simultaneous Landings
If one landing was incredible, two at the exact same time were legendary. During the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy in 2018, the world watched in awe as two side boosters touched down in perfect unison at Cape Canaveral. It wasn’t just a technical feat; it was a visual masterpiece that showcased the sheer precision of SpaceX’s autonomous landing systems.
Starship: The First High-Altitude Flip
Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, and its development has been a “test-and-learn” journey. In December 2020, the SN8 prototype soared 12.5 kilometers into the air before performing a wild “belly flop” maneuver to control its descent. While it ended in a “hard landing,” seeing a rocket of that size flip itself from horizontal to vertical and back again for the first time was an epic milestone in aerodynamic control.
SN15: The First Starship to Nail the Landing
After several prototypes ended in spectacular fireballs, SN15 finally broke the cycle in May 2021. The vehicle completed its high-altitude flight and successfully landed on the pad without exploding, marking the first time a Starship prototype survived the entire test sequence. This proved that the complex landing flip maneuver was not just a theory but a repeatable reality.
Mechazilla’s Chopsticks: Catching a Giant
Perhaps the most “insane” moment in aerospace history occurred during Starship’s fifth flight test in October 2024. Instead of landing on a pad or a ship, the vehicle’s massive Super Heavy booster returned to the launch site and was caught mid-air by the giant mechanical “chopstick” arms of the launch tower. This “Mechazilla” catch is a central enabler for rapid reusability, allowing SpaceX to launch, return, and launch again at a rate never before seen.
SpaceX is already looking to push the boundaries of Mechazilla even further by attempting its first “catch” of a returning Starship upper stage. This milestone is expected to take place between Flight 13 and Flight 15, depending on the performance of the upcoming Starship V3 flights.
Looking even further ahead, SpaceX is already developing Starship V4, a massive iteration featuring 42 Raptor engines, targeted for a 2027 debut.
Polaris Dawn: The First Private Spacewalk
SpaceX isn’t just revolutionizing hardware; it’s also advancing human spaceflight for private citizens. In September 2024, the Polaris Dawn mission made history when Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis performed the world’s first commercial spacewalk. Exiting the Crew Dragon hatch high above Earth, they tested new SpaceX-designed EVA suits that the company hopes will one day be worn by people walking on Mars.
The “Pez Dispenser”: First Starship Payload Success
Another pivotal moment occurred last year on August 26 during the Starship Flight 10 mission, which featured the first successful “Pez dispenser” test. After reaching its planned suborbital trajectory, the Starship upper stage successfully deployed eight Starlink satellite simulators in a unique, dispenser-like fashion. This was a critical demonstration of the spacecraft’s ability to deliver massive payloads to orbit. SpaceX intends to use this capability to supercharge the expansion of its Starlink constellation and begin deploying large amounts of AI compute in space following its recent acquisition of xAI.
Open the pod bay door, HAL
Starship deploying @Starlink simulator sats pic.twitter.com/3CSOyulzcJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2025
After Starship completed the deployment, it successfully performed a landing burn and splashed down in the ocean, captured in this amazing footage below.
Building the Future of Connection
Beyond the launches and advancements in spaceflight, SpaceX is creating a planet-wide internet network. Through its Starlink constellation, the company is now delivering high-speed broadband to homes, businesses, ships, planes, and more. It is even aiming to beam 5G connectivity directly to unmodified cell phones from space, on top of its Starlink Mobile service that currently offers satellite texting and low-speed data to eliminate dead zones globally. To power these ambitions, SpaceX acquired Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, to integrate massive AI capabilities into its orbital satellite network.
SpaceX’s ultimate vision is to make life multiplanetary. Each of these moments — the catches, the landings, and the spacewalks — is a stepping stone toward a future where exploring the stars is a routine part of human existence.
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March 7, 2026
By Karan Singh
Tesla has quietly updated the pricing information for its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. The change makes short trips notably more expensive.
While the per-mile rate is holding steady at just $1.00 per mile, the base cost to start a ride is seeing a big jump up to $3.25.
Since the Robotaxi service introduction, Tesla has adjusted the pricing several times.
The New Pricing Math
Under the previous distance-based pricing model, riders paid a minimal $1.00 base fare plus $1.00 per mile. Now, Tesla has raised that base fare to $3.25.
Because the $1.00 per-mile rate remains completely unchanged, this base fare increase disproportionately impacts shorter trips.
Here are a few examples of how the new $3.25 + (miles × $1.00) formula breaks down in the real world:
2-Mile Trip: Now costs $5.25 (up from $3.00).
5-Mile Trip: Now costs $8.25 (up from $6.00).
10-Mile Trip: Now costs $13.25 (up from $11.00).
The impact shrinks as the distance grows, but someone grabbing a quick 1- or 2-mile ride across their neighborhood is going to feel the sting of the higher initial summoning cost.
Robotaxi Pricing History
This is just the latest in a series of rapid pricing adjustments since the Robotaxi service officially launched in Austin on June 22, 2025.
Tesla originally opened the service with a flat $4.20 fee, a nod to Elon’s signature memes and humor, before jumping to a flat $6.90 fee as the geofenced area expanded for the first time.
Then, in July 2025, Tesla began offering more realistic, dynamic pricing and abandoned the flat rate fee. This distance + base fee approach is exactly what we have today, and is comparable to offerings from other autonomous providers and ride hailing services, like Uber, Lyft, and Waymo.
Battling High Wait Times
When Tesla first introduced the $1.00 base fare last year, it made short hops incredibly cheap, often drastically undercutting competitor pricing. This new $3.25 base fee suggests that Tesla is moving toward a more maintainable pricing structure.
This pricing shift may also be designed to dissuade users from taking on those short trips and calling Robotaxis for every little hop. Tesla hasn’t been actively adding additional Unsupervised Robotaxis or even Supervised Robotaxis to the active fleet, resulting in long wait times of upwards of 10-15 minutes for many users in Austin.
March 7, 2026
By Karan Singh
SpaceX is officially cracking down on one of its best bargain options. Starting this week, Starlink has disabled the ability to use a dish in motion for anyone subscribed to the ultra-cheap, $5-per-month Standby Mode plan.
Users began noticing the restriction on Friday when their Starlink mobile apps suddenly displayed a “Starlink Disabled while moving” warning.
The End of a Loophole
Introduced in August, Standby Mode was originally pitched by SpaceX as a simple way for users to pause their expensive, higher-tier subscriptions without having to completely cancel their service. For just $5 a month, the plan kept your hardware activated and provided unlimited data, albeit at a heavily throttled speed of just 500 Kbps (0.5 Mb).
However, savvy subscribers quickly realized that 500 Kbps was perfectly adequate for basic navigation, messaging, and the occasional light web browsing while on the road. When paired with the highly portable Starlink Mini dish, ever-popular in Teslas, the $5 Standby Mode became a fantastic choice for road-trippers traveling through cellular dead zones.
Now, with the removal of in-motion support, that emergency road-trip connectivity is gone. An official Starlink support page has been updated to clarify the restriction, simply stating: “Pausing your service with Standby Mode is not intended for in-motion use.”
The Push to Roam
To regain the ability to use Starlink while driving, affected subscribers will now be forced to upgrade to a much pricier Roam plan, which starts at $50 per month.
Unsurprisingly, the sudden change has sparked frustration across social media and community forums, with some users even threatening to return the free Starlink Mini dishes they had been loaned as a perk for long-term or new subscribers.
Speed-Based Plans
The in-motion crackdown isn’t limited to the $5 Standby tier. SpaceX has also introduced a strict 100 mph speed cap for in-motion use on both its standard Roam and Priority plans.
This change blocks private pilots and small-aircraft owners from effectively using standard Starlink dishes in the sky.
Instead of relying on standard Roam plans, airborne users are now being pushed toward two newly introduced aviation-specific tiers: the Aviation 300 mph plan, which costs $250 per month, and the Aviation 450 mph plan, which runs a staggering $1,000 per month.