OSHA says SpaceX did not properly inspect the crane before the collapse at Starbase

SpaceX did not properly inspect a recently repaired hydraulic crane before it collapsed at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas last June, according to OSHA.

As a result, F.S.A SpaceX has been hit With seven “serious” violations related to its investigation, which it opened one day after the crane collapse. OSHA issued the maximum financial penalty that could be imposed for six of those “serious” violations, giving Elon Musk’s spaceflight company a total fine of $115,850.

The OSHA investigation remains open, according to the agency’s website. It remains unclear whether any workers were hurt in the accident. SpaceX is able to appeal the sanctions; The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The penalty and violations come as SpaceX prepares to ramp up its activity at the Starbase facility, driven in part by 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 been authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to perform up to 25 spacecraft launched in Texas this year. At the same time, the launch complex is being rapidly expanded to meet Musk’s grand construction ambitions Thousands of spacecraft rockets annually.

SpaceX has a long history of injuries at its South Texas launch complex. A Reuters report revealed in 2023 Dozens of previously unreported infections — and the death of one employee — occurred during construction of the facility over the past decade. TechCrunch’s analysis of last year’s OSHA data Show SpaceX has a much higher infection rate at its Starbase site than other facilities operated by the company, or those of its industry peers.

Accidents keep happening too. In December, a SpaceX subcontractor employee filed a lawsuit against SpaceX after he claimed he was crushed by a large metal support that fell from a crane. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is also investigating this incident It was first reported by TechCrunch.

the Crane collapse At the heart of the new OSHA penalty occurred on June 24, 2025. SpaceX employees were at the Starbase test site cleaning up debris from The spacecraft exploded just four days ago. Footage captured by LabPadre, which broadcasts live broadcasts to Starbase, showed a crane bending under the weight of a large piece of the exploded spacecraft.

According to new citations posted on OSHA’s website, there is one employee was used A Grove RT9150E crane lifted the rubble while another used an excavator bucket to examine it in hopes of determining the cause of the explosion.

This Grove crane was recently repaired, according to Citationsand returned to SpaceX “without the employer ensuring that the repairs met the manufacturer’s standards through an inspection conducted by a qualified person.” It’s not clear why the crane was repaired, but another quote states that a Grove RT9150E crane at the test site had a computer that would only start up after “multiple attempts.”

OSHA claims SpaceX either wasn’t working or didn’t document Monthly inspections On the grove crane and that Not inspected “In the last 12 months.” SpaceX did not conduct monthly inspections of the wire rope used to transport the debris either. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA claims that rigging equipment used at the site was Missing Markings prescribed by the manufacturer which are supposed to detail the “safe working load”.

As part of its investigation, OSHA also found that an employee was operating a 90-ton Tadano crawler crane to move debris at the test site with an expired certificate from the National Commission for Certification of Crane Operators.