Axiom-4 launch delay: Top ISRO officials back in India; Astronauts remain in Florida

Amid endless delays and uncertainty over the American Axiom-4 human spaceflight mission launch, few members of the Indian delegation that had travelled to the US for this landmark event have returned to India. ISRO Chief Dr. V. Narayanan confirmed to WION's Sidharth M.P. about having returned to India along with a handful of top delegates from ISRO. In the first week of June, WION had reported about the 18-member Indian delegation that had travelled to Florida ahead of the Axiom-4 launch that will see India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla fly to space, and make history as the second Indian to undertake human spaceflight.

While a few delegates led by the ISRO Chief have returned, Indian astronauts Group Captain Shukla (primary astronaut) and Group Captain PB Nair (backup candidate) continue to carry out their respective duties in the US as part of the Axiom-4 mission. The duo have been in the US since August 2024 for their human spaceflight training as part of the Axiom-4 mission. Remaining members of the Indian delegation continue to stay in Florida, USA, in anticipation of the launch.

Axiom-4 and the series of endless delays

The Axiom-4 mission carrying four astronauts was scheduled for liftoff on May 29th 2025, but repeated delays have pushed the launch well into the last week of June. The concerned American entities (Axiom, SpaceX, NASA) have not revealed a new targeted launch date yet. Typically, launch dates are revealed at least four or five days ahead.

Originally targeted for a May 29th launch, it was pushed to June 8th, June 9th, June 10th, June 11th, June 19th, and June 22nd. Notably, June 22nd was the 7th launch date for this mission, and it turns out it is not even "7th time lucky" for Axiom-4 and its crew.

So far, this mission has been delayed owing to- the replacement of parts on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Spacecraft, technical issues with a Falcon 9 rocket engine, unfavourable weather, a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket, and an anomaly in the Russian Zvezda module on the International Space Station.

Axiom-4 crew nears one-month in quarantine

The Axiom-4 crew went into pre-launch mandatory quarantine on 26th May and remains in isolation. Pre-launch quarantine is followed to closely monitor the astronauts' health to avoid exposure to any last-minute illness. Quarantine is also important to ensure that the astronauts flying to the space station don't carry any infection to the closed environment of the orbiting lab. With the launch date now uncertain, it seems that the crew would end up spending a month or more in quarantine.

Typical pre-launch quarantines for the International Space Station crew last two weeks. The Axiom-4 crew will end up spending double that period in quarantine. In mid-2024, Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore also had to spend about a month in quarantine due to repeated delays with their launch.

In preparation for spaceflight, astronauts have to maintain peak mental and physical health. A mission delay would mean that they must sustain that peak for a longer period of time.

How mission delays affect the science experiments by astronauts

India's Shukla will be carrying seven experiments with him to the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. Some of the experiments involve biological material (seeds, bacteria, muscle cells), which are time-sensitive. Ideally, had the launch happened on 8th June, the astronauts would have completed their mission and returned to Earth by this week. However, with the sensitive experiments languishing on Earth for over three weeks, they too require replacement/specific care to be maintained in pristine condition. Questions remain over how the endless mission delay could affect the quality of the science experiments that will be conducted by the Axiom-4 crew in space.

Axiom-4 must launch this week or wait till mid-July

"In terms of launch opportunities, we have opportunities all the way to June 30th," Dana Weigel, Manager, International Space Station Programme, NASA, had said earlier this month. Typically, every rocket launch mission has a launch window/launch opportunity- an ideal period of a few days or weeks within which the launch can take place. On each of these specific days within the launch window, there are a few minutes when the rocket can blast off into space. All of these launch times are precisely planned down to the second, based on various technical parameters. Which is why many rocket launch missions happen at odd hours, and no two missions (even of the same type) follow the same launch time or schedule. In case SpaceX and Axiom Space are unable to launch in the month of June, there are opportunities from mid-July, she added.

About Axiom-4 and its astronauts

Axiom-4 would carry a crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station, where they would stay for two weeks and perform 60 experiments. The astronauts would be flying on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule. Peggy Whitson, America's senior-most astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the Axiom-4 mission, while ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot or second-in-command. The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. Apart from Peggy, all those aboard this mission are first-time astronauts. Therefore, the impact of these delays on the first-time astronauts' families must also be factored in.

This Axiom-4 mission will facilitate the return to human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, given that each nation’s first and only government-sponsored spaceflight had taken place more than 40 years ago.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be the first Indian to fly to the International Space Station, and the second Indian to fly to space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who flew on a Soviet Mission in 1984. The Indian Government has paid almost $64mn (₹550cr) for Shukla's training and spaceflight as part of Axiom-4. As he circles the earth, Shukla will also be performing experiments in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math), and these will be made available as recorded educational videos, as part of the Axiom-4 mission outreach activity.