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3mo ago

Axiom-4 Mission Slated for June 19 After Falcon 9 and ISS Fixes

It advances Axiom Space’s effort to build the first commercial space station by demonstrating private crewed flights to the ISS

The Axiom Space Ax-4 mission crew includes from left to right Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Sławosz Uznański of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary as well as Axiom Space employee and commander Peggy Whitson. (Courtesy/Axiom Space)
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The astronauts were originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29.
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Overview

  • SpaceX engineers have repaired a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket while NASA and Roscosmos continue to assess a pressure anomaly in the ISS’s Zvezda module
  • A follow-on coordination meeting between ISRO, Axiom Space and SpaceX confirmed a June 19 launch from Kennedy Space Center
  • The mission has been pushed back five times since May 29 due to electrical harness observations, booster readiness delays, weather constraints and station glitches
  • Veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson will command the flight with Indian pilot Shubhanshu Shukla—India’s first astronaut assigned to the ISS—and ESA specialists from Poland and Hungary
  • During their 14-day stay the four-member crew will perform about 60 experiments spanning life sciences, technology demonstrations and medical research