SpaceX has undoubtedly cemented its position as a leader in the emerging space industry, but that may have come at a painful price. A shocking new investigation by Reuters documents 600 workplace injuries and one death at Elon Musk’s rocket company, highlighting a dangerous disregard for safety practices for the sake of SpaceX’s ambitious goals. In its report, Reuters talked to more than a dozen current and former employees and reviewed medical and worker compensation records.
SpaceX is in a rush to launch Starship as it is under contract to use a modified version of its rocket to land humans on the Moon as part of NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. From there, Musk’s ultimate vision for his company is to land humans on Mars and build a colony on the Red Planet. The SpaceX CEO recently claimed that an uncrewed Starship could land on Mars within the next three to four years.