A SpaceX engineer is hospitalized in a coma after being critically injured while working on a Raptor engine at the firm's California facility on January 18 this year.
Francisco Cabada, a father of three, sustained injuries to his head, extremities, and respiratory system that Fox News reported he might never be able to leave the hospital again. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Cabada, which now has a total of over $50,000 dollars donations from its original goal of $10,000.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch complex 39A carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft on a commercial mission managed by Axion Space at Kennedy Space Center on April 8, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Cabada's Accident at SpaceX
Cabada has been working as an engineer with SpaceX for over a decade. On the day of the accident, he was conducting a routine pressure check on a Raptor engine when he was suddenly struck in the head by a fuel controller cover after initiating the venting.
According to MailOnline, he sustained life-threatening injuries to his head, as well as on his extremities and respiratory system. He underwent several brain surgeries and is now in a coma. SpaceX did not publicly announce the accident.
The accident summary from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that this was the first time an automated program was used instead of the traditional method that caused the piece to fly to Cabada's head.
Experts said that Cabada should not have been near the valve when the venting hit maximum pressure. In a video produced by Semafor, Relativity Space aerospace manufacturing technician Robert Caldwell explained that there is a constant risk when working around such technologies.
He cited that it contains hydrogen, methane, and liquid oxygen, which makes it a bomb. Unfortunately, Cabada was in the line of fire when the controller cover flew off due to too much pressure from the vents.
Semafor has been looking for details about the accident for months. SpaceX did not publicly announce it. But they found that Elon Musk's company has listed it as an "aviation accident" instead of a "space industry accident." Also, they found that Cabada was not listed as working in the space industry, although he was testing engines for rockets to go to space.
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SpaceX Only Fined Over $18K
Many former SpaceX employees said they are concerned Cabada's family will not be properly compensated if he can no longer work. Yahoo! reported that OSHA had hit SpaceX with two violations in relation to the accident, which totals about $18,,475 in the still open case. One of the violations was rated the highest "serious" gravity level.
Semafor noted that it is not uncommon for technician injuries and deaths to go unnoticed. They wrote that at least 24 spaceflight workers had been killed since 1980.
So far, most rocket and space-related injuries and deaths publicly announced and acknowledged have been major new events. For example, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 killed astronauts and pilots. But perhaps one of the biggest disasters in spaceflight is the Nedelin catastrophe in 1960 in the Soviet Union that killed hundreds of ground crew.
SpaceX has not responded or commented on OSHA's decision to hit them with over $18,000 fine.
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