After Four Delays, Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 Mission Rescheduled to June 19

New Delhi: After four delays, the Axiom-4 mission, set to carry Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station, is scheduled to be launched on June 19.

In a statement, the Union minister of state science and technology Dr Jitendra Singh said today (June 14) that the mission has been rescheduled for June 19, while the Space X team has confirmed that all the issues, that led to earlier postponement of the launch, have been duly addressed.

Shukla will travel to the ISS with the Ax-4 crew, where the team will conduct multiple experiments focused on microgravity and living science.

In a statement ISRO has said that the mission will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 19 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

“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,” ISRO said in a statement on June 14.

Also read: Know-Your-Spacemen: Is Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 Different from Rakesh Sharma’s in 1984?

"Separately, Axiom Space informed that they are working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module on board the International Space Station. Axiom Space is now targeting June 19, 2025 for the launch of the Ax-04 mission."

The new launch date comes after four delays in recent weeks due to unfavourable weather conditions and technical snags. 

The lift-off was first scheduled on May 29, which was put off to June 9, June 10 and June 11.

“During the appraisal of technical issues by Axiom & SpaceX to ISRO delegation on June 10, 2025, ISRO recommended to carry out in-situ repairs or replacement and conduct a low-temperature leak test to validate system performance and integrity, before proceeding with launch clearance,” ISRO had said on June 13.

It added that NASA informed that they are working with Roscosmos (Russia’s space agency) to evaluate a new pressure signature indicating a leak in the aft most segment of the ISS Zvezda Russian service module, after the recent repair attempt. In order to assess the situation and determine the need for further troubleshooting, the launch of Axiom-4 mission is being postponed.

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