Not June 19, now Ax-4 launch may happen on June 22 or 23
Crew members of Axiom-4 mission
BENGALURU: The launch of
Axiom-4 mission
, which has been delayed multiple times owing to a reasons ranging from glitches in the spacecraft, leak and snag in the rocket, weather and leaks at the
International Space Station
, is now being targeted for June 22 or 23.
Nasa
, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than Sunday, June 22, the Houston-based firm, which is implementing its fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS), said.
'Launch is targeted for 3.42 am Eastern Time on June 22, with a backup opportunity available on June 23 at 3.20am,' SpaceX said..
Isro said that its team, along with those from Poland and Hungary engaged in a detailed discussion with Axiom Space regarding the probable launch timeline. Following this, Axiom Space held consultations with Nasa and SpaceX to assess multiple readiness parameters.
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'...Based on the readiness status of the
SpaceX Falcon-9
launch vehicle, the Dragon spacecraft, repairs in the ISS' Zvezda module, ascent corridor weather conditions, and the health and preparedness of the crew in quarantine, Axiom has informed that the next probable launch date is June 22,' it added.
The revised schedule gives Nasa additional time to assess the ISS operational readiness, following recent repair work in the aft segment of its Russian-built Zvezda service module.
The launch, originally targeted for May 29, was deferred to June 8 following the detection of an issue in the electrical harness of the Crew Dragon module, Isro had said earlier. It was then postponed by a day to June 9, which was not publicly announced, and then rescheduled to June 10.
The June 10 launch was rescheduled once again. During preparations for a hot fire test on June 8, SpaceX engineers detected a liquid oxygen (LOX) leak in Falcon-9. An anomaly was also found in one of the engine actuators, which was subsequently replaced along with its controller.
Expecting a quick resolution of the LOX leak, the mission was initially rescheduled for June 11. Isro said it had stressed on
crew safety
in review meetings. Mission partners then decided to postpone the launch further to conduct a test to validate the corrections carried out.
On whether the multiple delays have affected the payloads India is planning to send on the mission, Isro chairman V Narayanan, who is leading the Isro delegation in Florida, told TOI: 'We have to review before deciding whether there needs to be some action on that. As of now, there is nothing to report.'
When TOI had, during its visit to Florida, asked another member of the Isro team about a potential problem with the payload, the member had said on June 12: 'Payload-loading happens the last. They are secure until then. At this juncture, we have nothing to worry about. We will review the situation again later.'
However, storage of payloads, especially
biological payloads
, may require attention if stored for prolonged periods of time. Narayanan said: 'I will get back after a review.'
Commanded by former Nasa astronaut
Peggy Whitson
, the mission will see Isro's astronaut group captain Shubhanshu Shukla take the role of pilot. The other two crew members, both mission specialists, are Polish ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Hungary's Tibor Kapu.
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