Musk cited oxygen or fuel leaks as the cause of the Starship crash

The cause of the crash of the Starship Starship of the SpaceX company could be a leak of oxygen or fuel, which reduced the capacity of the ventilation hole of the ship. This was reported on January 17 by American entrepreneur Ilon Musk.

"According to preliminary data, we have a leak of oxygen or fuel in the cavity above the ship's engine firewall," Musk said in a post on the social network X (former Twitter).

He specified that due to the leak, the capacity of the vent was reduced, which caused the ship to crash. Musk added that during a future inspection of Starship, more work will be done to increase the area of the vent.

The entrepreneur also stated that the next Starship launch will most likely not take place in February.

Earlier in the day, SpaceX said that the Starship spacecraft was lost during a test launch. SpaceX clarified on social network X (formerly Twitter) that "Starship experienced a rapid unplanned dismantlement during its liftoff pulse." This test launch was the seventh in a row and was performed at 1:37 Moscow time.