SpaceX engineer injured during engine test in January
During an engine test of a Raptor engine on January 18, 2022, a SpaceX engineer suffered a fractured skull when a protective cover broke off during venting.
The final step in the pressure check operation, venting, was done for the first time using an automated program as opposed to the normal manual method that had been used in previous operations. Immediately after initiating the automated venting, the employee was struck by the fuel controller cover which broke free from the controller module. The controller cover had sheared at the vertical to horizontal beveled seam, liberating the cover face from the assembly. The employee suffered a skull fracture and head trauma and was hospitalized in a coma for months.
OSHA fined SpaceX $18,475 in July for the accident.
According to a report yesterday in the Los Angeles Times, the employee, Francisco Cabada, was placed in a coma for two months. That report however is very unclear when he was placed in a coma, or his present condition. Also unclear about his present condition is the GoFundMe site created by his wife. As the OSHA case still appears open, this suggest Cabada has not yet recovered fully.
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During an engine test of a Raptor engine on January 18, 2022, a SpaceX engineer suffered a fractured skull when a protective cover broke off during venting.
The final step in the pressure check operation, venting, was done for the first time using an automated program as opposed to the normal manual method that had been used in previous operations. Immediately after initiating the automated venting, the employee was struck by the fuel controller cover which broke free from the controller module. The controller cover had sheared at the vertical to horizontal beveled seam, liberating the cover face from the assembly. The employee suffered a skull fracture and head trauma and was hospitalized in a coma for months.
OSHA fined SpaceX $18,475 in July for the accident.
According to a report yesterday in the Los Angeles Times, the employee, Francisco Cabada, was placed in a coma for two months. That report however is very unclear when he was placed in a coma, or his present condition. Also unclear about his present condition is the GoFundMe site created by his wife. As the OSHA case still appears open, this suggest Cabada has not yet recovered fully.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Sad to hear about his injuries.
The fine looks to only cover the immediate cost of the emergency.
They are more than likely holding off final review until the final outcome of the accident is known. Will he live, die, or be permanently injured?
Automation strikes again. Leave that for burgerflipping.
Like many other businessmen-Elon views staff as a problem-not a resource.
I have no opinion on whether Musk gives Starlink use to Ukraine or not. Not our people.
This engineer IS your people, Elon…and for his wife to have to set up a Go-Fund Me says a lot about about Musk’s character, or lack thereof.
A head injury is worse than the shattered ankle from Boeing’s accident-but I say SpaceX and Boeing are neck and neck in disregard for their workers.
If it were me, I’d make sure that family never would have to work again for two generations.
But I’m not an aspie multi-billionaire business man: I’m a human being.
Jeff Wright,
You wrote: “If it were me, I’d make sure that family never would have to work again for two generations.”
I don’t think you thought that through. I would love to work for your company, because if I hurt myself then I, my wife, and my children would never have to work again, and we all would live off your corporate welfare, playing X-Box all day long. This is encouragement to be less than safe at work. Plus, it removes the natural limits of the size of my family and the sizes of my children’s families. As well as the families of all the others who hurt themselves while working for you.
Where should I send my resumé?
Cute. How do you know they don’t have a crippled child? Elon is no Mom & Pop. He needs to stand up.
I reserve judgement until more details are released. Space-X should be fully paying for his medical care, it was an on the job site accident, and I would be stunned if he was not also getting 60-80% of his paycheck in short term disability.
My guess is some wormtongue in legal has Elon’s ear…whispering “any check you give is an admission of guilt” or some other such Mephistopholian hiss.
But lack of action leaves him open to a judge out to ruin him.
I remember an alleged relative of the kid who fell off a ride he was too big for wanted the whole fair shut down-but an attempt to give the engineer’s wife a check-even if she slaps him and tears it up-would impress me were I the judge…and I would recognize a healthy SPACEX is good for Texas.
I say this with love-mind you:
Something about Elon is bad off. I hear he wants to name his next kid after a Covid variant.
This is why I still root for Old Space…in case Tony Stark goes Howard Hughes on us. Maybe get a pastor friend to be Nathan to his David-and keep legal fighting ESG fools-not hurting families.
“I hear he wants to name his next kid after a Covid variant”
Well, I’d wager a number of Greek children are named from the Greek alphabet. Maybe Musk is showing off his multi-culti chops.
Poor Jeff
How do you know insurance is not paying for everything?
How do you know Elon is not picking up the extra not covered by insurance?
As for handing over cash to the family. He HAS to wait for the state to make any final decisions. He also has to wait for the medical condition to work its way to an end. No matter what that is. If he pays a few million now and the guy makes a full recovery how is Elon going to get his cash back? Will Elon even then hire the guy back?
Jeff Wright,
You asked: “How do you know they don’t have a crippled child?”
The same way that you know that they do have a crippled child. Why should the insurance policy for a large corporation be so much different than for a small Mom & Pop? And why shouldn’t Pop need to stand up, too?
Meanwhile, you have missed the point: if you set up an incentive for people to injure themselves on the job, you should expect a lot of injuries.
Harm the rich and favor the poor is a sure way to cripple an economy and create a LOT of lazy underemployed people.
Uh huh.
How do you explain this:
https://www.al.com/news/montgomery/2022/10/union-hyundai-cutting-alabama-suppliers-ties-punishes-workers-who-ended-child-labor.html
The populist wing of the GOP only found their voice after the Bush Banker Bailout. And how did corporate America reward them. We need a third party.
Kudos to Mr. Z for reporting this story that Space News hasn’t even touched.