Tag: starbase

OSHA probing worker death at SpaceX’s Starbase site

Posted on by faz_business


A worker died at SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in South Texas on Friday, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation.

The San Antonio Express-News reported Monday that the unidentified victim died at 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 to the outlet that a worker died. OSHA confirmed to TechCrunch that it is investigating the apparent accident.

Representatives for the nearby Brownsville police and fire departments did not respond to requests for comment. SpaceX and the newly incorporated city of Starbase did not respond to requests for comment.

The circumstances of the worker’s death are not immediately clear. OSHA told TechCrunch that it won’t release more information until its investigation is complete, which could take months.

The death comes just a few days ahead of the first planned launch of SpaceX’s upgraded Starship rocket. Elon Musk’s spaceflight company is also reportedly releasing the detailed prospectus for its initial public offering this week, which is expected to be the biggest ever when that transaction takes place next month.

SpaceX has long dealt with worker safety problems at its Starbase site, which handles Starship prototype launches and is an active construction zone.

In 2025, TechCrunch analyzed OSHA data and determined the Texas launch site had an injury rate that far outpaced those of industry rivals and was the most dangerous of SpaceX’s worksites. A 2023 Reuters investigation uncovered dozens of previously unreported injuries and a worker death in 2014 at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas, test site.

In January, OSHA hit SpaceX with seven “serious” safety violations for, among other things, not properly inspecting a crane before it collapsed at Starbase last June. The safety agency dealt SpaceX the maximum financial penalty on six of those seven violations, totaling $115,850. SpaceX is contesting those penalties, federal records show.

The company has been hit with multiple lawsuits related to injuries sustained at Starbase in recent years. In December, an employee of one of SpaceX’s subcontractors sued after he was crushed by a large metal support dropped from a crane. The worker, Eduardo Cavazos, suffered a broken hip, knee, and tibia, and OSHA opened a “rapid response investigation,” as TechCrunch first reported in December.

OSHA has since closed that rapid response investigation without taking any punitive action, according to a TechCrunch public records request. And the lawsuit was recently dropped because his employer, the subcontractor, provides workers compensation insurance that prevents the company from being sued, according to Cavazos’ attorney.

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Do You Have What It Takes to Be ‘Future Chief of Police’ of Starbase, Texas?

Posted on by faz_business



Does “protecting a commercial spaceport environment,” along with “critical infrastructure and high-value technology assets,” in a community “shaped by aerospace activity, coastal ecology, and a pioneering spirit of exploration” sound like your dream job? Well why not apply to be the “future chief of police” of Elon Musk’s company town in Texas?

As noted in a story last month on ValleyCentral.com, which is affiliated with Brownsville, Texas area TV news station KGBT, the city of Starbase (yes, it’s a real, incorporated city) approved an ordinance (yes, it has the authority to make laws) establishing a municipal police department. That will include a chief of police and eight officers, with that chief, according to ValleyCentral, elected by the city’s commission.

To that end, apparently, the city just published a job listing seeking applicants for a job titled “Public Safety Director / Future Chief of Police.” The rather puzzling hybrid title may stem from the sheer speed at which the institutional trappings of a city are being assembled in Starbase. The city was incorporated about ten months ago, has a mayor, and will be holding an election on May 2 of this year according to its website.

ValleyCentral makes it sound like policing is a somewhat urgent matter in Starbase because a $3.5 million contract with the Cameron County Sheriff fell through. What were meant to be five-year positions as Starbase-based deputies weren’t appealing to potential recruits. City Administrator Kent Myers told ValleyCentral “We didn’t have a lot of success in finding deputies through the county, so we decided to change direction.”

The job ad says this position will involve creating a “future-ready workforce” that will prioritize, “Integrating advanced technology and analytics into operations.” Starbase’s ideal applicant, the ad says, is a “visionary, ethical, and innovative leader with unquestioned integrity.”

But that ideal candidate will also “thrive in a startup-like environment.”

As for what the sociological picture looks like in the area for someone considering being top cop there, the first thing to keep in mind is that it’s a short drive from the Mexican border where, as of 2026, drug trafficking remains an issue of concern at the federal level. And according to a report from 2023, Cameron County was on the list of the 45 counties (out of 254 counties total) in Texas considered to be in poverty.

Closer to Starbase, there has been considerable agitation over SpaceX’s control of an ostensibly public beach, and a statue of Elon Musk in the area was vandalized last year. So social unrest due to dislike of SpaceX and Elon Musk seem like potential areas of concern.

But it’s presumptuous to try and paint a picture of the crime situation in Starbase because it’s in many ways still just a construction site. The population was about 500 as of last year, which is the approximate standing capacity of a Cheesecake Factory. And the infrastructure to support a police department isn’t even in place yet in Starbase. TechCrunch noticed some government filings last month showing that the city will likely soon have a courthouse. Common sense-wise, it stands to reason that a jail will soon follow.