India's Shubhanshu Shukla set to fly to ISS on June 25

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June 24, 2025 10:04 IST

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The mission was originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29 but was put off multiple times when engineers detected a liquid oxygen leak in the boosters of the Falcon-9 rocket and NASA also detected leaks in the ageing Russian module of the ISS.

IMAGE: Axiom-4 Astronauts Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, Mission Specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu of Hungary will travel to the International Space Station. All photographs: ANI Photo

After much delay, the Indian astronaut and Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three others are finally expected to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 25.

“NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting 2:31 a.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) Wednesday, June 25, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced.

 

According to the US space agency NASA, the mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

“The crew will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.

The targeted docking time is approximately 7 a.m. Thursday, June 26. NASA will provide more details and its coverage information shortly,” NASA added.

IMAGE: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla selected for Axiom Space's fourth private astronaut mission to the Space Station.

The SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon spacecraft will be carrying Commander Peggy Whitson of the US, Mission Pilot Shukla (call sign Shuks), Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of the European Space Agency/Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

The flight was known as Axiom Mission 4 or Ax-4 Mission managed by the US company Axiom Space.

The Ax-4 mission will 'realise the return' to human spaceflight for India, Poland and Hungary, with each nation's first government-sponsored flight in more than 40 years, Axiom Space said.

The four astronauts will be spending 14 days in ISS and doing several research experiments.

The Ax-4 research complement includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe.

“This will be the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom Space mission aboard the International Space Station to date, underscoring the mission's global significance and collaborative nature to advance microgravity research in low-Earth orbit (LEO),” Axiom Space said. 

The studies will enhance global knowledge in human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences, demonstrating the space research capabilities of the crew's home nations.

IMAGE: The Crew of the Axiom-4 mission, which has rescheduled the launch of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by NASA, to June 25.

All the four astronauts who have been quarantined for the past couple of weeks will be heaving a sigh of relief now and will be praying that their flight to ISS does not get delayed any further.

Originally the flight to ISS was targeted on May 29, 2025. It was deferred to June 8, due to observation in the electrical harness in the Crew Dragon Module, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had said.

"The launch was postponed by one day to June 9, 2025 due to delay in preparedness of the Falcon 9 vehicle for the launch," ISRO said.

The launch date was further postponed to June 10, 2025, due to unfavourable weather in the ascent corridor.

"Additional observation of oxygen leakage in the engine bay was observed during the preparation for hot fire test conducted on June 8, 2025. Moreover, there was an observation of an anomaly in one of the engine actuators which was replaced along with the controller," ISRO said.

Anticipating the quick resolution of the liquid oxygen leak, ISRO said the launch was rescheduled to June 11, 2025.

"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," the Indian space agency added.

 

Meanwhile at the ISS, Zvezda the Russian service module too experienced some leak.

"On June 11, 2025, NASA informed that they are working with Roscosmos 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 the Axiom-4 mission is being postponed," ISRO said.

On June 14 NASA said: "SpaceX teams have repaired a liquid oxygen leak identified during post-static fire Falcon 9 rocket inspections. Following the repairs, the company completed a wet dress rehearsal of the Falcon 9."

Later the launch date was set for June 19. But the flight didn’t happen that day. 

And now the D-Day has been fixed for June 25.

Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at venkatacharijagannathan@gmail.com

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff

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