A worker died at SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in South Texas on Friday, and OSHA - the federal agency that shows up after things go boom - 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 confirmed the death via the county sheriff. OSHA confirmed to TechCrunch that it is investigating the apparent accident.

Neither SpaceX, the newly incorporated city of Starbase, nor nearby Brownsville police and fire departments responded to requests for comment. The circumstances of the worker’s death remain murky, as OSHA won’t release more information until its investigation wraps up - which could take months. So, you know, stay tuned for the official word sometime around the next ice age.

The timing is, shall we say, suboptimal: the death comes just a few days before 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. Nothing says 'investor confidence' like a workplace fatality.

SpaceX has long dealt with worker safety problems at Starbase, which handles Starship prototype launches and is an active construction zone. In 2025, TechCrunch analyzed OSHA data and found the Texas launch site had an injury rate that far outpaced 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, including failing to properly inspect a crane before it collapsed at Starbase last June. The agency slapped the company with the maximum financial penalty on six of those violations, totaling $115,850. SpaceX is contesting those penalties, because of course it is.

The company has also faced multiple lawsuits related to Starbase injuries. In December, Eduardo Cavazos, an employee of a subcontractor, sued after being crushed by a large metal support dropped from a crane, suffering a broken hip, knee, and tibia. OSHA opened a 'rapid response investigation' - which it later closed without punitive action, according to a TechCrunch public records request. And the lawsuit was dropped because his employer’s workers comp insurance prevents the company from being sued, per Cavazos’ attorney. So that’s one way to make legal problems disappear.