No Omelettes for A Week: Elon Musk's Bizarre Apology for SpaceX's 'Heinous Crime'

SpaceX has been accused of causing chaos on the breeding grounds of rare birds and sea turtles that dwell inside the blast zone of its Starbase facility in southern Texas. The most recent was a Sunday article in The New York Times claiming that the local ecosystem has been harmed by Starbase Boca Chica operations. There was a particular mention of a yellow stain on the ground where a bird’s nest had been the day prior. Now, CEO Elon Musk has made the decision to atone in his own peculiar way for this “heinous crime”.

Well, it all began when reporter Mike Pesca criticised a piece published in NYT on X. The journalist criticised the newspaper for elevating the launch’s destruction of many bird nests to the status of the “most important” story of the day.

As per Pesca’s explanation of the Times typeface, the article at the top right is the lead, the story at the top left is the sub-lead and the main news of the day is “everything else above the fold.” According to him, the rising pressure from prominent congressional Democrats to remove Biden from the campaign is the second most significant story in today’s newspaper.

An unexpected outcome of the French election that completely shocked everyone is the third most significant news. “The MOST important story is Elon Musk’s successful space launch destroying nine bird nests.”

Elon Musk reposted the tweet, writing, “To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week.”

The SpaceX CEO’s retweet has more than 6 million views on the social media platform.

A user in the comments section highlighted saying, “They also apparently buried the story about Boeing being fined for negligently causing multiple plane crashes that killed hundreds,” to which Musk agreed.

Another user humourously mentioned, “NINE BIRD NESTS!?!? HOW COULD YOU ELON???”

A third user suggested, “Nah eat even more eggs to spite them.”

Apart from all the fun and games, SpaceX operations have been linked to at least “19 explosions, fires, leaks and other issues” since 2019, according to a report by NYT. In 2023, a nearby state park’s 3.5 acres caught fire due to a rocket launch explosion.

A report from a local conservation group claims that nine bird nests up to 500 metres distant were destroyed by the last SpaceX Starship launch in June, which left a vast area of sand flats covered in muck, ash and pieces of sheet metal.

The Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Programme discovered “bloody egg contents” alongside tern and plover nests that had been found undamaged the day before the June 6 launch.