Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is now targeting a launch tomorrow.
According to a statement on NASA’s official website, NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are aiming for a launch at 12:01 PM IST tomorrow for the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS. The mission is set to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission was originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29 but faced multiple delays. It was first postponed to June 8, then June 10 and June 11, after engineers detected a liquid oxygen leak in the boosters of the Falcon 9 rocket.
Additionally, NASA identified leaks in the ageing Russian module of the space station. Subsequently, the launch was rescheduled for June 19 and later June 22, but was again delayed to allow NASA time to evaluate the operations of the ISS following repairs to the Russian module.
The mission was originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29 but was then put off to June 8, then June 10 and June 11, 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 International Space Station. The launch was then planned for June 19 and then on June 22 which was put off to allow NASA evaluate operations of the ISS after repairs in the Russian module.