Tesla Cyber Rodeo and SpaceX launch next on Elon Musk radar this week

Tesla chief Elon Musk is having quite the week.

On Monday, we learned Tesla’s CEO had taken up a more than 9% stake in Twitter, making him the social networking company’s largest shareholder. The service the world’s richest person uses to ask for input and promise product improvements then announced Tuesday that Musk will join its board of directors.

We’ll see what fresh surprises Musk has next for Twitter after these disclosures drove its shares up 30% in the course of just a couple sessions — the biggest two-day jump for the stock since the company’s initial public offering. This much we do know: on Thursday, attention will turn back to Tesla. And on Friday, the focus will be on SpaceX, the rocket company Musk runs.

Musk will first host a massive party at Tesla’s new factory in Austin, Texas. The company has a permit to host 15,000 people for what it’s calling a “Cyber Rodeo,” nodding to the Cybertruck the CEO unveiled to enormous fanfare in November 2019 but hasn’t put into production yet. Fans are clamoring for tickets — including on Twitter — and heading to the Lone Star State’s capital in hopes of being someone’s plus-one.

Tesla has put off rolling out the Cybertruck, Semi or Roadster until no sooner than next year, because the company is parts-constrained and would produce fewer vehicles if it tried to add more models to the lineup, Musk said in January. This dragged on Tesla shares early this year, but the opening of the company’s other new factory, near Berlin, and last week’s signal another stock split is coming have done wonders for the stock.

The Rodeo promises to be a late night: doors open at 4 p.m. and remarks begin at sunset, according to Tesla’s event page. The next morning, SpaceX has scheduled another major milestone launch.

The mission for a Dragon capsule aboard a Falcon 9 rocket will be to pull off the first all-private human spaceflight mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX already has ferried NASA astronauts to and from the ISS and recently sent its Starlink gear to Ukraine to support the government with its satellite broadband service.

Tesla doesn’t spend money on traditional advertising, and this manic schedule shows it doesn’t need to. There’s no escaping Musk’s command of the news cycle.

I’d imagine Musk will be in an expansive and jolly mood Thursday evening. The Cyber Rodeo is a big event, marking Tesla’s next phase of growth and further establishing Texas as Musk’s new center of gravity.

One of the big questions I have: who will be at Elon’s big party? Three names I’d be on the lookout for: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Joe Rogan and maybe even Jack Dorsey.