The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says SpaceX failed to properly inspect a hydraulic crane that was recently repaired before it collapsed at the company’s Starbase, Texas, facility last June.
As a result, the Federal Safety Agency charged SpaceX with seven “serious” violations related to the investigation, which began the day after the crane collapse. OSHA imposed the maximum fines available for six of these “serious” violations, totaling $115,850 in fines for Elon Musk’s spaceflight company.
OSHA’s investigation is still ongoing, according to the agency’s website. It is still unclear whether any workers were injured in the accident. SpaceX can appeal the penalty. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
The penalties and violations come as SpaceX plans to ramp up activity at its space base facilities, part of a boost in the race to meet President Donald Trump’s goal of returning astronauts to the moon by the end of his second term. The company has received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct up to 25 Starship launches in Texas this year. At the same time, launch facilities are rapidly expanding to meet Musk’s grand ambitions to build thousands of Starship rockets a year.
SpaceX has a long history of casualties at its South Texas launch facilities. A 2023 Reuters report revealed dozens of previously unreported injuries and one employee death during construction of the facility over the past decade. A TechCrunch analysis of OSHA data from last year showed that injury rates were much higher at the Starbase site than at other SpaceX-operated facilities or those of other companies in the industry.
There is no end to accidents. In December, an employee of a SpaceX subcontractor filed a lawsuit against SpaceX, claiming he was crushed by a large metal column that fell from a crane. As first reported by TechCrunch, OSHA is also investigating the incident.
The crane collapse at the center of the new OSHA penalty occurred on June 24, 2025. SpaceX employees at the Starbase test site were clearing debris from the Starship explosion just four days earlier. Footage taken by LabPadre, which posts a live stream of the Starbase site, showed the crane buckling under the weight of large pieces of the Starship that exploded.
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According to a new citation posted on OSHA’s website, one employee was using a Grove RT9150E crane to lift debris while another was using an excavator’s bucket to inspect it to determine the cause of the explosion.
The globe crane was recently repaired and returned to SpaceX “without assurance by the employer that the repairs met manufacturer standards through inspection by qualified personnel,” according to the citation. It’s unclear why the crane was repaired, but another citation said the Grove RT9150E crane at the test site had a computer that wouldn’t turn on until “multiple attempts” were made.
OSHA alleges that SpaceX did not conduct or document monthly inspections of the globe cranes and that they had not been inspected “within the past 12 months.” According to OSHA, SpaceX also failed to conduct monthly inspections of the wire ropes used to move debris. And OSHA alleges that the rigging used at the site lacked manufacturer-specified markings that were supposed to detail “safe working loads.”
As part of the investigation, OSHA also discovered that the employee was operating a Tadano 90-ton crawler crane to move debris at the test site while holding an expired certification from the National Crane Operator Certification Board.
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