Axiom-4 Mission Launch Date: The Axiom-4 mission carrying Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS) has been pushed back again — the next probable launch date is June 22, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). The space agency said that the revised date was arrived at after detailed discussions involving teams from Isro, Poland, and Hungary with Axiom Space; consultations between Axiom Space, Nasa, and SpaceX; and an assessment of the predicted weather conditions in the path of the flight. Apart from Shukla, the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket will carry astronauts Peggy Whitson from the US, Poland’s Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu in the Dragon spacecraft. The mission launch had to be pushed several times owing to a problem in the electrical harness of the Dragon spacecraft, a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, and leaks on board the Zvezda module of the ISS. “Based on the readiness status of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Dragon spacecraft, repairs in the Zvezda module of the Space Station, ascent corridor weather conditions, and the health and preparedness of the crew in quarantine, Axiom Space has informed that the next probable launch date is 22 June 2025,” Isro said in a statement. Shukla—referred to as Shux by his crewmates—will become India’s second astronaut in space and the first one to go to the ISS. Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma spent almost eight days on board the Soviet Salyut-7 Orbital Station in 1984. Themed ‘Realize the Return’, the two other crew members from Poland and Hungary will also take their country back to space after 40 years. At the space station, Shukla will conduct seven Indian experiments and participate in several other international ones. He will also interact with students, academics, people from the country’s budding space industry, as well as dignitaries from the space station. The learnings from the mission will feed into the country’s human spaceflight programme. India plans to launch the first human mission by 2027. Isro’s vision is to set up a five-module space station by 2035 and send a human to the moon by 2040.
