Protestors are expected to rally Saturday morning outside City Hall, demanding a halt to SpaceX’s planned relocation of its rocket retrieval program to Long Beach.
Organizers with 50501 Long Beach and SoCal Uprising warned the program will pollute coastal waters and benefit Elon Musk, who has come under increasing scrutiny over his political role in the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal government.
“We are calling on the City and Port of Long Beach to reject SpaceX’s growing presence due to the environmental, economic, and ethical costs it imposes on residents,” Toni Engberg with the protest group 50501 Long Beach said in an emailed statement. “While the aerospace industry brings economic benefits, we cannot ignore the unchecked power of Elon Musk—an unelected billionaire who profits from government contracts while spreading transphobic rhetoric and enabling corruption at the highest levels.”
Similar protests have been taking place outside SpaceX and Tesla facilities across the U.S., illustrative of a growing disdain over Musk — who owns the car manufacturer and aeronautical companies — and his influence on the U.S. government.
Long Beach, however, has become a focal point for some activists as SpaceX grows its footprint here.
The company last fall announced plans to move recovery operations of its Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Flor., to Long Beach by early 2025.
California’s coastal waters would be used as a splashdown zone to recover returning spacecraft after they ferry astronauts and cargo into orbit, according to SpaceX. Upon re-entry, the spacecraft is coordinated to land in a designated area. It’s not exactly clear where the splashdowns would take place or when SpaceX hopes to start them. The Hawthorne-based company did not respond to requests for comment.
The relocation is currently being reviewed by the California Coastal Commission, which oversees the land and water use along the state coastline.
Joshua Smith with the California Coastal Commission said Friday that the agency is preparing a federal consistency review of the relocation to determine whether there will be significant impacts to the coastal waters.
The review’s findings could come before commissioners as early as April, Smith added, and can be made public two weeks before their public hearing.
If approved, recovery operations would likely be absorbed into SpaceX’s existing footprint at the Long Beach port — about 15.5 acres on Pier T. The land is leased through April 2028 at $285,000 per month, according to a lease agreement with the Long Beach Harbor Commission.
In its 2024 announcement, SpaceX said the planned move is intended to “fully eliminate” the risk of the debris “landing on populated areas without increasing risk to Dragon crew or the public.”
SpaceX engineers predict the rocket’s expendable parts, including its trunk, would burn up as it fell from orbit and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. Yet spacecraft debris has previously landed, weeks to months later, in Australia, Saskatchewan and North Carolina, among other places.
When splashdowns in the Pacific begin this year, the trunk will remain attached to the capsule until after the spacecraft has left orbit, allowing SpaceX to control its descent into the ocean away from land, the company said.
“SpaceX is working with NASA, the FAA, and other federal agencies to evaluate and assess all potential return locations off the coast of California to ensure safe and reliable Dragon splashdowns on the West Coast,” SpaceX said in a statement.
But protestors characterized the program as an invitation for environmental damage in local waterways, saying past incidents should warrant a second look at whether the city stands to benefit from SpaceX’s presence.
“We will not become a dumping ground or a waste basket for a fascist man who doesn’t give two cents about our humanity,” Ashlie Brady, co-founder of the Feminist Uprising activist group, said at a City Council meeting Tuesday.
SpaceX also rents a small parcel of land for storage at the Port of Los Angeles.
