321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (July 21)
In a partnership between rivals, Elon Musk's SpaceX is slated to launch a payload of Jeff Bezos' Amazon broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit during a late-night liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take flight during a 27-minute launch window that opens at 2:18 a.m. Wednesday, July 16 at Launch Complex 40.
Read the full story here.
Axiom 4 astronauts depart space station on SpaceX Dragon, prepare for California splashdown
A group of private astronauts are journeying home through outer space after spending a little more than two weeks at the International Space Station.
The four-person crew of a venture known as Axiom Mission 4 reached the orbital laboratory June 26 after launching on a SpaceX vehicle from Florida. Ahead of the spacefarers, under the command of retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, is a daylong cosmic trip ending with a water landing off the coast of California.
Read the full story here.
How NASA's upcoming Crew-11 astronauts were impacted by Boeing Starliner incident
NASA's next crew heading to the International Space Station is set to arrive in Florida in the coming weeks — and this Crew-11 mission is in more ways than one the follow-up mission to last year's ill-fated Starliner flight test.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov are set to embark on an eight-month mission to the ISS as part of NASA's crew rotation on the orbiting outpost.
Read the full story here.
SpaceX KF-01 launch recap: Live updates from Amazon mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Launch recap: Scroll down to review live updates from the Wednesday, July 16, liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on the Amazon Project Kuiper KF-01 mission.
Read the full story here.
Elon Musk's SpaceX will help Amazon launch competitor Kuiper satellites: Here's why
Amazon's internet-beaming Kuiper satellites could one day be a formative challenge to the Starlink constellation SpaceX has spent years amassing.
So, why is SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight company tech mogul Elon Musk founded in 2002, helping Amazon get the satellites into orbit?
Read the full story here.
SpaceX launch photos: Falcon 9 deploys Amazon satellites on KF-01 mission from Cape Canaveral
Read the full story here.
Will Florida's Space Coast surpass 100 annual rocket launches for 1st time this year?
Will the annual number of orbital rockets launched from Florida's Space Coast reach triple digits for the first time by year's end?
Stay tuned. During 2024, a record-shattering 93 launches took flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's neighboring Kennedy Space Center, easily zooming past the previous record of 72 launches in 2023.
Read the full story here.
What to know: ULA Vulcan rocket to launch national security mission from Cape Canaveral
It's been awhile since Florida has seen a Vulcan rocket launch, but United Launch Alliance is pushing ahead to break that drought.
While an official launch date is yet to come, ULA has announced the upcoming USSF-106 mission for the Space Force. The company has also teased photos of the red and white Vulcan rocket in the process of being stacked for launch.
Read the full story here.
Days after SES, Intelsat merge, SpaceX to launch 2 satellites for company from Cape Canaveral
Fresh off completing its $3.1 billion acquisition of competitor Intelsat on Thursday, July 17, European global satellite operator SES is preparing to launch a key pair of satellites atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX is targeting Monday, July 21, to deploy SES' ninth and 10th O3B mPOWER satellites from Launch Complex 40. The launch window extends from 5 p.m. to 8:13 p.m., a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory indicates.
Read the full story here.
New Space Force STARCOM commander returns to Patrick Space Force Base after 11-year absence
When U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. James Smith and his family packed into their Honda Odyssey van in 2014 and drove north on Interstate 95 to the Pentagon, he didn't think he'd ever get stationed on Florida's Space Coast again.
Fast-forward 11 years. Smith has returned — as a Space Force major general. And he'll lead STARCOM as the high-tech field command continues transitioning from Colorado to Patrick Space Force Base, eventually creating a headquarters boasting more than 450 personnel in the next several years.
Read the full story here.
Florida Tech withdraws from Cape Canaveral rocket-noise study, citing its narrow scope
Citing insufficient pricing and scope of research, the Florida Institute of Technology has withdrawn from a partnership with the city of Cape Canaveral to monitor potential impacts of rocket launches on buildings and infrastructure.
This $10,019 study, which the Cape Canaveral City Council approved in April, called for Florida Tech to install sensors — including sound level meters, accelerometers and air quality monitors — at a handful of buildings across Cape Canaveral and collect data before, during and after rocket launches.
Read the full story here.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly Space newsletter.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (July 21)
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
14 minutes ago
- CNN
On Tesla's earnings call, no one wanted to talk about … Tesla's earnings
A version of this story appeared in CNN Business' Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. If you happened to glance at Tesla's second-quarter earnings report Wednesday night, you might not be surprised that the company's stock was getting pummeled on Wall Street Thursday morning. Put simply: sales are in freefall, profits have been shrinking for three straight quarters and the US government is about to cut off a crucial revenue stream. But if you just listened in on the company's call with analysts, you would have no idea why. For an earnings call, there was zero talk of, um, earnings. And the overall message from Tesla's top brass seemed to be: We are a robotics and AI company, and, someday soon, it's going to be awesome. For now, many bullish analysts — especially those whom the company called on during the conference call — are on board with CEO Elon Musk's vision of Tesla as an AI and robotics company first and an organization that builds and sells cars that people purchase and drive themselves second. But Thursday's selloff suggests that Musk's 'hey, look over here!' comms strategy is getting harder for Wall Street to swallow. ICYMI: CEO Elon Musk did acknowledge in response to one question that Tesla was in a 'weird transition period' and 'could have a few rough quarters' ahead because of the loss of a $7,500 tax credit for US EV buyers starting in October and the vanishing market for regulatory credit sales, which has driven a significant portion of Tesla's profits for years. But over the course of an hourlong call, Musk barely mentioned Tesla's core business — selling cars, which, as my colleague Chris Isidore reports, isn't going great. Musk kept his gaze firmly on the far horizon, skipping over the fact that demand is cratering for the things Tesla actually sells right now, while touting dreams of a still largely hypothetical future where the company would build and sell more than a million humanoid robots. And for the most part, the analysts who were called on to ask questions followed suit, opting not to dwell on the declining financials of the world's most valuable automaker. Analysts' questions largely focused on robotaxis, Tesla's 'Full Self Driving' software, the Optimus robot and other products that are, again, still largely unrealized as viable consumer products. 'The company offered remarkably little detail on some of the most important factors' — like its mysterious new lower-priced model —'making our outlook lean more on imagination than realistic targets,' said Truist's William Stein, who has a hold rating on Tesla, in a note after the call. Even Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, known as Tesla's biggest cheerleader on Wall Street, said Tesla management's performance was a letdown. 'I wouldn't say it was a conference call that should be put in the Hall of Fame,' Ives told CNN on Thursday, while underscoring he is still bullish on Tesla's robotics future with Musk at the helm. 'Communication on the call was less than stellar in terms of details, and I think that definitely played into the selloff that we're seeing.' Tesla shares (TSLA) fell more than 8% Thursday. For Tesla's detractors, Musk's opaque responses confirmed what they've long seen as an overvalued company that's banking on hype. 'The stock price no longer rests on selling cars. It hinges almost entirely on the promise of a robot-driven, self-driving future… one that continues to recede on contact with reality,' said analyst Gordon L. Johnson, one of Tesla's biggest critics on Wall Street, in a note. 'The key to convincing the market that you're not just a car company is to avoid discussing your car business… If you're trying to justify a trillion-dollar valuation while your core business stagnates, it helps to keep the details as fuzzy as the timeline for your next 'miracle product.'' But to a certain extent, this is who Musk is and who he has always been. The focus, he believes, shouldn't be on what Tesla is doing now. It should always be on what Tesla is going to do, someday. Someday soon, Tesla is going to build and sell an inexpensive car. Someday soon, Tesla is going to build and sell hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million, Cybertrucks. Someday soon, Tesla is going to build and sell a car that drives itself, from coast to coast. Someday soon, Tesla is going to be an AI and robotics company. If it isn't one now, you're just focused on the wrong things. And if it isn't one tomorrow, then you just need to hear about what it's going to accomplish, someday soon.
CNN
33 minutes ago
- CNN
On Tesla's earnings call, no one wanted to talk about … Tesla's earnings
A version of this story appeared in CNN Business' Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. If you happened to glance at Tesla's second-quarter earnings report Wednesday night, you might not be surprised that the company's stock was getting pummeled on Wall Street Thursday morning. Put simply: sales are in freefall, profits have been shrinking for three straight quarters and the US government is about to cut off a crucial revenue stream. But if you just listened in on the company's call with analysts, you would have no idea why. For an earnings call, there was zero talk of, um, earnings. And the overall message from Tesla's top brass seemed to be: We are a robotics and AI company, and, someday soon, it's going to be awesome. For now, many bullish analysts — especially those whom the company called on during the conference call — are on board with CEO Elon Musk's vision of Tesla as an AI and robotics company first and an organization that builds and sells cars that people purchase and drive themselves second. But Thursday's selloff suggests that Musk's 'hey, look over here!' comms strategy is getting harder for Wall Street to swallow. ICYMI: CEO Elon Musk did acknowledge in response to one question that Tesla was in a 'weird transition period' and 'could have a few rough quarters' ahead because of the loss of a $7,500 tax credit for US EV buyers starting in October and the vanishing market for regulatory credit sales, which has driven a significant portion of Tesla's profits for years. But over the course of an hourlong call, Musk barely mentioned Tesla's core business — selling cars, which, as my colleague Chris Isidore reports, isn't going great. Musk kept his gaze firmly on the far horizon, skipping over the fact that demand is cratering for the things Tesla actually sells right now, while touting dreams of a still largely hypothetical future where the company would build and sell more than a million humanoid robots. And for the most part, the analysts who were called on to ask questions followed suit, opting not to dwell on the declining financials of the world's most valuable automaker. Analysts' questions largely focused on robotaxis, Tesla's 'Full Self Driving' software, the Optimus robot and other products that are, again, still largely unrealized as viable consumer products. 'The company offered remarkably little detail on some of the most important factors' — like its mysterious new lower-priced model —'making our outlook lean more on imagination than realistic targets,' said Truist's William Stein, who has a hold rating on Tesla, in a note after the call. Even Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, known as Tesla's biggest cheerleader on Wall Street, said Tesla management's performance was a letdown. 'I wouldn't say it was a conference call that should be put in the Hall of Fame,' Ives told CNN on Thursday, while underscoring he is still bullish on Tesla's robotics future with Musk at the helm. 'Communication on the call was less than stellar in terms of details, and I think that definitely played into the selloff that we're seeing.' Tesla shares (TSLA) fell more than 8% Thursday. For Tesla's detractors, Musk's opaque responses confirmed what they've long seen as an overvalued company that's banking on hype. 'The stock price no longer rests on selling cars. It hinges almost entirely on the promise of a robot-driven, self-driving future… one that continues to recede on contact with reality,' said analyst Gordon L. Johnson, one of Tesla's biggest critics on Wall Street, in a note. 'The key to convincing the market that you're not just a car company is to avoid discussing your car business… If you're trying to justify a trillion-dollar valuation while your core business stagnates, it helps to keep the details as fuzzy as the timeline for your next 'miracle product.'' But to a certain extent, this is who Musk is and who he has always been. The focus, he believes, shouldn't be on what Tesla is doing now. It should always be on what Tesla is going to do, someday. Someday soon, Tesla is going to build and sell an inexpensive car. Someday soon, Tesla is going to build and sell hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million, Cybertrucks. Someday soon, Tesla is going to build and sell a car that drives itself, from coast to coast. Someday soon, Tesla is going to be an AI and robotics company. If it isn't one now, you're just focused on the wrong things. And if it isn't one tomorrow, then you just need to hear about what it's going to accomplish, someday soon.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tesla: Weak Quarter, Focus on the Future
Key Points Tesla's quarterly results were down year over year but still came in at or just above Wall Street expectations. The company saw momentum slow in key product areas in Q2 but is rapidly expanding its addressable market by adding robotics and AI. Tesla said its new, more-affordable vehicle remains on track to go into production before the year's end and said the Semi and Cybercab are coming in 2026. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Here's our initial take on Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) fiscal 2025 second-quarter financial report. Key Metrics Metric Q2 2024 Q2 2025 Change vs. Expectations Revenue $25.5 billion $22.5 billion -12% Beat Adjusted EPS $0.52 $0.40 -23% Met Energy generation and storage revenue $3.0 billion $2.8 billion -7% n/a Gross margin 18% 17.2% 80 bp n/a Tesla Looks Toward the Next Big Thing Tesla's quarter came in largely as expected, with revenue and earnings per share down 12% and 23%, respectively, and coming in at or just above analyst expectations. The company attributed the revenue decline to a decrease in deliveries and lower regulatory credit revenue, coupled with a reduction in average selling price. Energy generation and storage revenue also fell due to lower pricing. But the company remains upbeat about its future. Tesla is still primarily an automaker, generating 74% of revenue this quarter from automotive sales. But the focus this quarter was on what is to come, with the company, in its release, calling the just-finished second quarter "a seminal point" in Tesla's history. "The beginning of our transition from leading the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries to also becoming a leader in AI, robotics, and related services," the report noted. The company said it remains on track to expand its vehicle offering, including ramped-up production volumes for a new more affordable model planned for the second half of this year. The company also expects to start volume production of the Semi model and its autonomous Cybercab -- a specially designed vehicle for autonomous rideshare -- in 2026. Immediate Market Reaction Investors came into Tesla earnings with low expectations, with the stock down 17% year to date. So perhaps it is no surprise that the initial reaction was a muted one, with Tesla shares down 1.5% in after-market trading on Wednesday following the release but ahead of the postearnings call. What to Watch Tesla has always been valued more on what is to come than on the present results. But rarely in recent history has there been so little momentum in the core business, and with tax law changes coming, the automotive regulatory credits that have been a key driver of profitability are soon to disappear. With that in mind, expect investors to pay particular attention to CEO Elon Musk's vision for what is to come, and specifics about the timeline for when new products will actually be available for purchase. The initial Robotaxi service launch in Austin, Texas, using standard Tesla models is progressing, and investors will be keen to hear details about future plans. If all goes to plan, a rollout of a new, more affordable vehicle model could spur revenue growth in the quarters to come, and the company's continued advancements in robotics, autonomous driving, and energy should create new pillars for growth. Helpful Resources Full earnings report Investor relations page Additional coverage Don't miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $433,181!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $40,702!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $641,800!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join , and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Lou Whiteman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Tesla: Weak Quarter, Focus on the Future was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
