Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
A crane collapsed at SpaceX, a star based facility in Texas, on
Tuesday, triggering an official investigation by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
And the federal agency confirmed it had opened the case after
footage of the incident appeared online.
So this is from a live stream from Lab Padre, which is a
SpaceX focused YouTube channel. They have live streams, they
have commentary, they have podcasts, etcetera.
Go check them out on YouTube. They're one of our buddies in
this video spread very quickly across X, which amplified the
concerns about Spacex's on site safety practices.
The public wants to know if SpaceX is keeping its workers
safe as it chases after Mars. Now I can tell you I was there
for about 10 or 11 months. I was about, let's say about a
year at Starbase, documenting the process of SpaceX building
Starships. And I was talking to the
workers. I was on the side of the road at
Starbase, and I can vouch for all the safety concerns that
people are having. But also I know that these
people were doing as much as they could to be as safe as
possible at Starbase. So when it comes down to it, I
hope the they don't find anything against SpaceX, but I
really hope everyone's safe at Starbase because all those
people were very, very nice and very cordial.
Just good people. They were making a living
working hard on the sun. So if OSHA finds something wrong
in SpaceX, I hope they fix it as soon as possible and nobody else
gets hurt now. OSHA said it will release more
information once its investigation is finished, but
for now, officials have not confirmed whether anyone was
hurt in this collapse. I don't think so.
And SpaceX has not commented and not reached out to us after we
asked him for comment on this. Elon Musk and senior executives
at SpaceX didn't respond to us. The company has previously dealt
with safety related criticism and regulatory scrutiny tied to
workplace practices at its various sites.
Most of those were settled. They're OK.
People were hurt a little bit and they were injured, but they
came out ahead after everything and they were fine afterwards.
So Spacex's had safety issues in the past that go beyond the
aerospace industry. In 2014, employee named Simon
LeBlanc died while working on site.
Osha's final report concluded that SpaceX failed to protect
him from a hazard that was clearly identifiable.
That incident led to a renewed debate about the company's
approach to Occupational Safety, particularly around high risk
work environments like launch sites and construction zones,
which is basically all of Starbase now.
This latest incident arrives just days after the booster
explosion. Sorry, the ship explosion during
a ground test at Massey's. Now these large scale explosions
have become frequent enough that they no longer surprise close
observers at Star Base. However, they continue to
attract attention from environmental organizations and
local officials, especially when the fallout effects surrounding
land or wildlife. Now, following the most recent
blast on June 18th, SpaceX said the surrounding area was not
harmed, but independent assessments have not yet
confirmed Spacex's claim. So environmental advocacy groups
in both the US and Mexico argue that repeated test failures at
star base have negatively affected habitats along the Gulf
Coast. These include breeding grounds
for endangered birds and sensitive marine ecosystems.
While SpaceX disputes those assertions, the legal and
environmental pressure on the company has steadily increased
since 2022, when Starship testing entered a more active
phase. This crave collapse adds to the
list of infrastructure issues at Starbase, which serves as the
central development hub for Starship.
And this is the rocket that SpaceX plans to send to Mars.
It's also a key part of the Artemis program for NASA.
SpaceX won a multibillion dollar contract with NASA to develop a
lunar Lander called the HLS, and they beat out Blue Origin and
Dianetics to get this spot. And this collapse raises
questions about the readiness and reliability of the site
supporting these government backed missions.
Now, SpaceX received $20 billion in federal contracts from NASA
and the DoD, placing it among the largest government
contractors in aerospace. That level of public funding has
sparked ongoing concerns about oversight, especially when
safety lapses occur at federally subsidized facilities.
If you pay your tax money towards building aerospace
infrastructure such as that, a star base and the Rockets that
will propel humans back to the moon and to Mars eventually want
it done in a Safeway, everybody does.
Everybody wants to subsidize humans trip to Mars.
Everyone that does, they want it done in a safe manner and SpaceX
for the most part has done a good job at that.
Now, the fact that the crane failure happened on the same
grounds as a NASA projects heightens the stakes.
And I'm sure NASA was made aware of this crane and they're also
probably going to investigate it.
At least ask us a couple questions, some questions to
SpaceX representatives. Now, at the same time, political
shifts may change the dynamic between regulators and companies
like SpaceX. Trump previously launched a cost
cutting campaign. It's DOGE, which is actually led
by Elon Musk now. The effort resulted in reducing
staffing and funding for agencies like OSHA.
Imagine that. At least 11 OSHA field offices
closed during the campaign, limiting the agency's ability to
monitor and respond to safety violations affiliate facilities,
just like Starbase. Elon Musk has pushed to install
Jared Isaacman, who's a Musk ally and a commercial astronaut,
on Spacex's rockets to become NASA's next leader.
The proposal fell apart, though, when tensions between Elon Musk
and Donald Trump surfaced. Just ended the bid before it
reached a Senate vote over Musk's deep ties to federal
projects and his influence on space policy remain intact.
NASA's own position remains uncertain, with its budget for
the next fiscal year still pending congressional approval
there. Looks like they're going to
slash the budget tremendously, and that's horrible for science
programs. Any substantial cuts could delay
parts of the Artemis program or shift priorities away from
SpaceX LED missions, such as SpaceX launching things to orbit
for NASA or sending things to other planets for NASA.
We'll see Now. There's no immediate link
between NASA's funding status and the crane collapse.
Both issues affect the company's ability to deliver on key
milestones in its development timeline for Starship.
Now, this crane collapse and the investigation from OSHA will
determine whether SpaceX followed required safety
protocols. If violations are found, the
company could face penalties or increased oversight.
And until then, we don't know what's going to happen.
And if they just have to pay a fine, they'll continue doing
Starbase until they launch to Mars and it'll be completely
fine unless somebody was hurt. And of course, then that will go
to court. Hey, thank you so much for
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