The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has decided to stand down from the launch of the Axiom-4 space mission, scheduled on June 22 (Sunday), and will target a new launch date in the coming days.
The mission was supposed to take four astronauts, including Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, to the International Space Station (ISS) on board SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket. “NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX continue reviewing launch opportunities for Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. NASA has made the decision to stand down from a launch on Sunday, June 22, and will target a new launch date in the coming days," NASA said.
The agency said it needed additional time to continue evaluating ISS operations after recent repair work in the aft (back) most segment of the orbital laboratory’s Zvezda service module. NASA said it wanted to ensure that the station was ready for additional crew members and was reviewing data, in lieu of the space station’s interconnected and interdependent systems.
“NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX appreciate the historic nature of this mission for the nations of India, Poland, and Hungary, as well as the world. The crew remains in quarantine in Florida, and the astronauts stand ready to launch when the station is ready to receive them," it said.
The Axiom-4 mission to the ISS will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as the pilot. European Space Agency’s Slawosz Uznanski from Poland and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu are the mission specialists.
The crew will be taken to the space station via SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. Initially planned for May 29, the launch faced several delays due to a detected liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 boosters and problems with the aging Russian module of the International Space Station. It was subsequently rescheduled to June 8, then June 10, then June 11 and ultimately to June 19.
The space crew will carry out around 60 experiments during their 14-day stay in space, ranging from life science to technology demonstrations to diabetes research.
There have been concerns over repeated delays in the mission, as the launch window is narrowing with every passing day. The ISS, which has been orbiting the Earth for almost 25 years, has a tightly-managed schedule coordinated by NASA.
Source: News18