Axiom-4 mission eyes June 19 lift-off

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said the liquid oxygen leak observed in SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket has been fixed and the Axiom-4 commercial mission to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others, is targeting a launch on June 19.

"During a follow-on coordination meeting between the ISRO, Axiom Space and SpaceX, it was confirmed that the liquid oxygen leak observed in the Falcon-9 launch vehicle has been successfully resolved," the ISRO said.

The Indian space agency further said Axiom Space was working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module on board the ISS. "Axiom Space is now targeting June 19, 2025, for the launch of the Ax-04 mission," the ISRO said.

The astronauts were originally scheduled for a lift-off on May 29, which was put off to June 8, when SpaceX, the providers of the launch rocket and the space capsule, detected a liquid oxygen leak in the rocket. The mission was further delayed to June 10 due to unfavourable weather conditions. “Additional observation of oxygen leakage in the engine bay was observed during the preparation for the hot fire test conducted on June 8," it said.

After an anomaly was observed in one of the engine actuators that was replaced for the quick resolution of the leak issue, the launch was further rescheduled to June 11.