The launch of the Axiom-4 space mission carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station is, as of now, rescheduled for June 19, space agency ISRO said on Saturday. 

ISRO also noted that the Space X team has confirmed that all issues observed in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which led to earlier postponement, have been addressed. Initially targeted to launch on June 11, the mission was put off indefinitely due to a liquid oxygen leak in its launch vehicle, Falcon 9.

NASA and Axiom Space had said on Thursday that they are postponing the launch of the Mission and a new launch date will be provided once available.

“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. Separately, Axiom Space informed that they are working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module onboard the International Space Station,” ISRO’s announcement said. 

Multi-country team

The much-awaited launch of Axiom Mission, which will see a multi-country team carry out various scientific research in space, has faced numerous hurdles to its lift-off. 

The launch originally targeted on May 29 was deferred to June 8 first due to observation in the electrical harness in Crew Dragon Module. It was then postponed by one day to June 9 due to delay in the preparation of the Falcon 9 vehicle for the launch. Then came another day of delay to June 10 due to unfavourable weather. A fuel leak in SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket and also issues in the Russian section of the International Space Station further pushed the launch to June 11. 

Former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, Peggy Whitson, will command the commercial mission, while Shukla will serve as the pilot. The two mission specialists are European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. With this mission, Shukla will become India’s second astronaut to go to space since 1984.

Published on June 14, 2025