New Delhi: 

SpaceX announced that it was "standing down" from the Falcon-9 launch of the Axiom-4 mission to allow repairs of the liquid oxygen leak identified during the post-static booster inspections. Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others, has been put off for the time being as engineers sought more time to repair a leak in SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also confirmed that 'the launch of Axiom 04, slated for 11th June 2025 for sending the first Indian Gaganyatri to ISS, is postponed'. "As part of launch vehicle preparation to validate the performance of booster stage of Falcon 9 launch vehicle, seven-second of hot test was carried out on the launch pad. It is understood that LOX leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test," Dr.V.Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO, said in a post on X.

"Standing down from tomorrow's Falcon 9 launch of Ax-4 to the @Space_Station to allow additional time for SpaceX teams to repair the LOx leak identified during post static fire booster inspections," SpaceX said in a post on X. "Once complete – and pending Range availability – we will share a new launch date," SpaceX said.

"Based on the discussion on this topic by ISRO team with the experts of Axiom and SpaceX it has been decided to correct the leak and carry out necessary validation test before clearing for the launch," he added.

The Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission comprises Commander Peggy Whitson, pilot Shukla and specialists Tigor Kapu of Hungary and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland. The 14-day mission will "realise the return" to human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary.

Shukla's travel to space marks India's return to human spaceflight 41 years after Rakesh Sharma scripted history by undertaking a journey to space onboard Soviet Russia's Soyuz spacecraft in 1984.The Lucknow-born Shukla, who goes by the call sign ‘Shuks’, is part of an ISRO-NASA-supported commercial spaceflight by Axiom Space where all the customers are national governments.

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