Texas Homeowners Sue SpaceX Over ‘Sonic Booms’ and ‘Property Damage’ From Rocket Launches

Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company faces two separate lawsuits from more than 150 Texas residents claiming that Starship rocket launches and engine testing have damaged their homes.

Both lawsuits were filed on April 30, one in U.S. District Court in Brownsville, TX, and the other in McLennan County’s 414th District Court. 

The federal complaint brought on behalf of nearly 80 residents living in South Padre Island, Port Isabel, and Laguna Vista, TX, accuses SpaceX of gross negligence and trespass.

According to the 60-page civil complaint reviewed by Realtor.com®, 11 Starship test flights at SpaceX’s sprawling Starbase facility in Cameron County from April 2023 to October 2025 produced “extraordinary amounts of acoustic energy including noise, vibrations, and sonic booms.”

While the lawsuit does not spell out what damage the 53 homes occupied by the plaintiffs allegedly sustained as a result of the rocket launches and landings, it maintains that Starship operations have subjected the properties “to repeated intense and damaging acoustic events.” 

The filing includes a chart detailing possible building damage that can be caused by sonic booms of increasing magnitude, including cracks in plaster and glass, damage to roofs, ceilings, and walls.

To illustrate the power of SpaceX’s Raptor engines, the complaint describes how during the inaugural Starship test flight on April 20, 2023, the liftoff shattered Starbase’s concrete launch pad, because the company “vastly underestimated the explosive, acoustic energy of its own thirty-tree-engine booster. …”

The force of the ignition set off a “rock tornado” that carved a crater in the ground and produced a debris cloud of pulverized concrete and metal shrapnel that rained over 385 acres, the plaintiffs said. 

The lawsuit quotes Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, admitting after the test that the company had not anticipated the destruction of the launch pad. 

The plaintiffs in the federal case are demanding a trial by jury and are seeking unspecified damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Rocket engine test lawsuit

In the state lawsuit filed in Central Texas, 76 plaintiffs from McLennan and Coryell counties allege that rocket engine testing at SpaceX’s 4,000-acre McGregor, TX, facility has generated intense noise and seismic vibrations that damaged their properties. 

According to court documents cited by the station KCEN-TV, homes located in the towns of McGregor, Moody, Crawford, and Oglesby sustained cracked foundations, shifting, and shattered windows and doors. 

Unlike Starbase, the McGregor site is used for “static fires,” where Raptor 3 rocket engines are secured in place and ignited without liftoff.

These tests, according to the complaint, can occur daily, and sometimes multiple times a day, with some producing more than 600,000 pounds of thrust, leading plaintiffs’ lawyers to describe them as a “daily barrage of terrestrial bombardment.”

“Plaintiffs are innocent bystanders caught in the blast radius of SpaceX’s industrial ambitions,” the lawsuit reportedly reads. “… The continuous shaking and acoustic resonance have caused severe, escalating property damage across these communities.”

The complaint further maintains that SpaceX was aware of the property damage through homeowners’ repair claims but failed to take adequate steps to address these concerns.

Like in the federal case, the state lawsuit alleges gross negligence and trespass. The plaintiffs are collectively seeking more than $1 million in damages. 

SpaceX has not responded to either lawsuit in court. Realtor.com reached out to the company seeking comment.