Video Shows Large Crane Collapsing at Safety-Plagued SpaceX Rocket Facility
As eagle-eyed Starbase watchers flagged in a livestream from earlier this week, one of the cranes at the site of the explosion — which was, according to CBS News 4, powerful enough to be picked up by weather radar — collapsed in a heap in the middle of the day.
"This has always been one of my biggest fears in every industry I've worked in," tweeted Zack Golden, the SpaceX fan who noticed the collapse on a livestream from LabPadre, a fancam site that records the Boca Chica, Texas facility. "I hope everything is alright."
Though there's some speculation online suggesting that the crane had been lifting the carcass of the exploded Starship when it collapsed, it's not clear that's been established for certain. We've reached out to SpaceX and LabPadre to ask if there's any additional information or video to be shared about what happened there — and, more importantly, whether anyone was hurt in the process.
Last week's Starship explosion didn't just release a massive fireball and impact local weather radar in South Texas, but also, as the Associated Press reports, resulted in large pieces of debris landing in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas.
In its aftermath, the AP notes, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum is investigating what international laws the Musk-owned company might have broken when the wreckage breached international borders.
"There is indeed contamination," Sheinbaum claimed during a daily news briefing that also saw her threatening to file "the necessary lawsuits" once her country's probe is complete.
The facility that lives on a beach near the newly-incorporated company town of Starbase has long been plagued by safety issues ranging from debris showers from prior Starship failures and is the leading site of hundreds of recorded injuries at the company, per a Reuters investigation from 2023.
While there have been no reported injuries in this most recent Starship explosion, we won't be sure that the cleanup effort has continued that record unless SpaceX gets back to us — and we'll be sure to update if that occurs.
More on Starbase: Latest Starship Explosion Drastically Decreases SpaceX's Chances of Reaching Mars Without Having to Wait Years
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