Axiom-4 Mission to International Space Station delayed

The Axiom-4 mission carrying four crew members including one from India to the International Space Station (ISS) was postponed again due to a technical snag, the Indian space agency and SpaceX said on Wednesday.

"As part of launch vehicle preparation to validate the performance of the booster stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, seven second of hot test was carried out on the launch pad. It is understood that LOX leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test," V. Narayanan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a statement.

"Based on the discussion on this topic by ISRO team with the experts of Axiom and SpaceX it has been decided to correct the leak and carry out necessary validation test before clearing for the launch. Hence the launch of Axiom 04 slated for June 11 is postponed."

Elon Musk's SpaceX also said it is "standing down" from Falcon 9's launch of Axiom Space's Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station from Launch Complex at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday to "allow additional time for SpaceX teams to repair the LOx leak identified during post static fire booster inspections."

"Once complete-and pending range availability-we will share a new launch date," the agency said.

According to Space X, the crew in the mission will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences.

NASA said that Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

Earlier, the launch was postponed by a day from June 10 to June 11 due to weather conditions.