Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 Mission To ISS Faces Fresh Delay As NASA Evaluates Space Station Readiness

The launch of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), which is set to carry Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to International Space Station (ISS), has been postponed again, NDTV reported.

The highly anticipated launch has been postponed from its Sunday (22 June) target, and a new date may be announced in the coming days.

This is the sixth delay in lift-off of the Axiom Mission 4, a planned private spaceflight to the International Space Station operated by Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and NASA.

In a statement, NASA said that it needed additional time to "continue evaluating International Space Station operations after recent repair work in the aft (back) most segment of the orbital laboratory’s Zvezda service module".

"Because of the space station’s interconnected and interdependent systems, NASA wants to ensure the station is ready for additional crew members, and the agency is taking the time necessary to review data," the statement added.

The Axiom-4 crew includes Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, serving as mission commander, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who will serve as pilot, and two mission specialists, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

The crew remains in quarantine in Florida, and the astronauts stand ready to launch when the station is ready to receive them, NASA said.