<p>Chennai: After six postponements in a fortnight, the Axiom 04 mission taking Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the US on Wednesday noon (IST). </p><p>SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, announced that Falcon 9’s launch of Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the ISS is targeted for 2:31 a.m. Eastern Time, with a backup opportunity available on June 26 at 2:09 a.m. ET.</p>.Safety, mission integrity top priority, says ISRO amid Axiom-4 delay.<p>“This is the first flight for the Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission. This will be the second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched a Starlink mission. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida,” SpaceX said in a statement.</p><p>During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences.</p><p>The mission, which will take the second Indian astronaut to the ISS after Rakesh Sharma in 1984 as part of Soviet Interkosmos programme, was postponed six times since its original launch scheduled for June 8. </p>.Axiom 4 Mission Explained | ISRO’s Rs 550 crore mission to send Shubhanshu Shukla to the ISS.<p>Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) is a planned private spaceflight to the ISS carrying astronauts from India, Hungary, and Poland. The flight is operated by Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and NASA. </p><p>The flight carrying Shukla was announced by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of greater collaboration between the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISRO.</p><p>On June 11, SpaceX and ISRO said a liquid oxygen system leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test following which the mission was postponed. The leakage was detected during a 7-second hot test carried out at the launch pad to validate the performance of the booster stage of Falcon 9 launch vehicle. </p><p>Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.</p> <p>ISRO has been maintaining that safety and mission integrity remains the top priorities and that it was working closely with Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX as they responsibly address the ISS Zvezda module observation causing the Ax‑4 delay. </p><p>Shukla, who was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter wing in June 2006, became Group Captain in March 2024 with 2,000 hours of flight experience across aircraft.</p>
<p>Chennai: After six postponements in a fortnight, the Axiom 04 mission taking Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the US on Wednesday noon (IST). </p><p>SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, announced that Falcon 9’s launch of Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the ISS is targeted for 2:31 a.m. Eastern Time, with a backup opportunity available on June 26 at 2:09 a.m. ET.</p>.Safety, mission integrity top priority, says ISRO amid Axiom-4 delay.<p>“This is the first flight for the Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission. This will be the second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched a Starlink mission. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida,” SpaceX said in a statement.</p><p>During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences.</p><p>The mission, which will take the second Indian astronaut to the ISS after Rakesh Sharma in 1984 as part of Soviet Interkosmos programme, was postponed six times since its original launch scheduled for June 8. </p>.Axiom 4 Mission Explained | ISRO’s Rs 550 crore mission to send Shubhanshu Shukla to the ISS.<p>Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) is a planned private spaceflight to the ISS carrying astronauts from India, Hungary, and Poland. The flight is operated by Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and NASA. </p><p>The flight carrying Shukla was announced by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of greater collaboration between the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISRO.</p><p>On June 11, SpaceX and ISRO said a liquid oxygen system leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test following which the mission was postponed. The leakage was detected during a 7-second hot test carried out at the launch pad to validate the performance of the booster stage of Falcon 9 launch vehicle. </p><p>Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.</p> <p>ISRO has been maintaining that safety and mission integrity remains the top priorities and that it was working closely with Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX as they responsibly address the ISS Zvezda module observation causing the Ax‑4 delay. </p><p>Shukla, who was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter wing in June 2006, became Group Captain in March 2024 with 2,000 hours of flight experience across aircraft.</p>