14 June, 2025:
The long-delayed Axiom-4 commercial mission to the International Space Station, which includes Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla as one of its four-member crew, is now set to launch on June 19, ISRO said in an official release on Saturday.
The decision comes after a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket, originally scheduled to launch on June 11, was successfully resolved. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed that Axiom Space had effectively addressed the issue, clearing the way for the rescheduled launch.
“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,” the ISRO said in a statement.
"Separately, Axiom Space informed that they are working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module on board the International Space Station," it said.
"Launch date of the Axiom-4 mission carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station is, as of now, rescheduled for June 19, 2025," said Union MoS for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh in a post on X. “Also, Space X team has confirmed that all the issues, that led to the earlier postponement of the launch have been duly addressed. Further update, if any, will be accordingly shared,” he added.
Originally set to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 11, the mission faced delays, first due to a fuel leak in SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket, and later because of a leak in the Russian segment of the International Space Station.
The astronauts were originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29, but the launch was postponed to June 8, June 10, and June 11 after SpaceX, the provider of the launch rocket and the space capsule, detected a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket.
