A worker died Friday at SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in south Texas, prompting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate.
The San Antonio Express-News reported Monday that the unidentified victim died around 4:17 a.m. local time on May 15, citing OSHA and local officials. The Wall Street Journal later reported that the county sheriff confirmed that one employee had died. OSHA confirmed to TechCrunch that it is investigating the apparent incident.
Representatives from nearby Brownsville Police and Fire Departments did not respond to requests for comment. SpaceX and the newly incorporated City Starbase did not respond to requests for comment.
The circumstances of the worker’s death were not immediately clear. OSHA told TechCrunch that it will not release any further information until the investigation is complete, which could take several months.
The death occurred just days before the first planned launch of SpaceX’s improved Starship rocket. Elon Musk’s spaceflight company will also reportedly release a detailed prospectus for its initial public offering this week, with next month’s initial public offering expected to be the largest in history.
SpaceX has long been grappling with worker safety issues at its Starbase site, the zone responsible for launching the Starship prototype and currently under construction.
In 2025, TechCrunch analyzed OSHA data and determined that the Texas launch site was the most dangerous of SpaceX’s workplaces, with injury rates that far exceeded industry rivals. A 2023 Reuters investigation revealed dozens of previously unreported injuries and worker deaths at the SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, in 2014.
In January, OSHA issued seven “serious” safety violations against SpaceX, including for failing to properly inspect a crane before it collapsed at Starbase last June. The Department of Safety imposed maximum fines on SpaceX for six of those seven violations, totaling $115,850. SpaceX is contesting those penalties, according to federal records.
The company has been hit with multiple lawsuits in recent years related to injuries sustained at Starbase. In December, an employee of a SpaceX subcontractor filed a lawsuit alleging he was crushed by a large metal column that fell from a crane. As TechCrunch first reported in December, worker Eduardo Cavazos suffered a fractured hip, knee and tibia, and OSHA launched a “rapid response investigation.”
OSHA has since closed its rapid response investigation without taking any disciplinary action, according to a public records request from TechCrunch. And Cavazos’ attorney says the case was recently dropped because Cavazos’ employer, a subcontractor, provides workers’ compensation insurance, shielding the company from being sued.
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