SpaceX has just announced that it’s standing down from tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch of Axiom Space’s Ax-4 crew to the International Space Station (ISS). A new target launch date has yet to be announced.
In a post on X on Tuesday evening, SpaceX said its engineers need more time to repair the liquid oxygen leak identified during earlier booster inspections, and therefore would not be launching on June 11. Another plan to launch Ax-4 was also called off 24 hours earlier due to strong winds in the ascent corridor.
Four astronauts — three of whom are non-professional and will be heading to orbit for the first time — are currently in isolation close to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Ax-4 crew comprises three individuals from India, Poland, and Hungary, with all three nations sending citizens to the ISS for the first time.
American Peggy Whitson makes up the four-person team, with the retired NASA astronaut leading her second commercial human spaceflight mission.
The Ax-4 crew will spend about two weeks aboard the orbital outpost, living and working alongside the seven members who are already there.
The upcoming mission will be Axiom Space’s fourth privately funded crewed mission to the ISS. The Texas-based company also has a contract with NASA to develop habitable modules that can be attached to the space station, with a plan for the modules to become part of a free-flying, commercially funded orbital facility.
Jared Isaacman, who’s been on two private space missions and until recently was set to become the chief of NASA until President Trump pulled his nomination, commented on the delay to the Ax-4 mission, saying in a post on X: “An inconvenience for the guests and families expecting a launch, but hopefully the Axiom Space’s Ax-4 crew is having a fun time in quarantine. Won’t be long before the big moment. All the best on the mission.”
If you’d like to watch the Ax-4 crew head to orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, then check out this article, which will be updated to show the new target launch date just as soon as it’s announced.
