Key Points
- A large crane collapsed at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. The federal safety agency OSHA is investigating the collapse.
- The investigation follows Elon Musk’s efforts, led during the Trump administration, to reduce OSHA’s funding and resources.
- SpaceX has a documented history of workplace injury rates that exceed the industry average.
- The collapse is another problem for the company’s Starship program, which explosions have also plagued.
A massive crane collapsed at Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility in Texas on Tuesday, and now a federal safety agency is launching an investigation into the incident. The dramatic collapse at the Starbase facility was captured on a live stream, and the clips quickly spread across social media. It was not immediately clear if any workers were injured.
The investigation comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the very agency Musk worked to weaken. Earlier this year, Musk led a Trump administration effort called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which slashed OSHA’s resources and closed several of its field offices, limiting its ability to investigate workplace safety.
This incident adds to a history of safety concerns at the company. A previous Reuters report found that SpaceX’s workplace injury rates were significantly higher than the industry average. In 2014, an employee died on the job in what OSHA concluded was a preventable accident.
The crane collapse is just the latest in a string of setbacks for SpaceX’s ambitious Starship program, which has also seen multiple rocket explosions. The Starship is the largest rocket ever built and is central to Musk’s goal of sending people to Mars.
While the company is a major government contractor for NASA and the Department of Defense, it faces constant pressure to prove its technology can operate safely and reliably.
