The Axiom-4 mission — a much-anticipated commercial spaceflight carrying Indian astronaut Shubanshu Shukla and three other crew members — is now expected to be launched on June 19.
The new launch date was announced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday, following a delay caused by pressure signatures noticed in the International Space Station (ISS) and a liquid oxygen (LOX) leak in the rocket. The mission was slated for lift-off on June 11.
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In an official statement, ISRO said the liquid oxygen issue had been resolved: “During a follow-on coordination meeting between ISRO, Axiom Space, and SpaceX, it was confirmed that the liquid oxygen leak observed in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle has been successfully resolved.”
The agency also noted that, separately, Axiom Space is working closely with NASA to evaluate a pressure anomaly detected in the Zvezda Service Module aboard the ISS.
On Thursday, June 12, NASA announced a further delay to the Axiom-4 launch, citing ongoing investigations into the pressure variations in the Russian-built ISS Zvezda module.
“NASA and Axiom Space are postponing the launch of Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. As part of an ongoing investigation, NASA is working with Roscosmos to understand a new pressure signature, after the recent post-repair effort in the aft (rear) most segment of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module,” the agency said in a statement.
Following this, cosmonauts aboard the ISS inspected the module’s interior surfaces, sealed additional areas of concern, and measured the current leak rate. NASA said the module is now holding pressure after these efforts.
However, the agency deferred to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, to provide specific details about the Zvezda module, which was built and installed by Russia.
As a precaution, NASA had decided to delay the Axiom-4 launch further, allowing more time to evaluate the issue and determine whether additional troubleshooting is required.
The new launch date of June 19 comes after five rounds of rescheduling. Originally slated for May 29, the mission was first postponed to June 8 to allow additional preparation time. It was then delayed twice more—first without an official explanation, and later due to unfavorable weather conditions. The final two delays were caused by technical issues with the launch vehicle and a pressure anomaly onboard the International Space Station.
Former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space’s director of human spaceflight, Peggy Whitson, will command the mission. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, an ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
The four-member crew will launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.