Axiom-4 launch delayed indefinitely; revives memories of Boeing Starliner delays

The repeated launch delays involving Axiom-4 astronauts and the uncertainty surrounding the mission have revived memories of Boeing's Starliner mission last year. In 2024, Boeing's Starliner was scheduled to liftoff in early May, but technical issues kept delaying the launch until the first week of June. Further, the 8-week mission dragging on for over 8-months tarnished Boeing's reputation. Likewise, the American Axiom-4 mission was scheduled for liftoff on May 29th 2025, but repeated delays have pushed the launch well beyond June 22nd, Sunday. The concerned entities have not revealed a new targeted launch date.

The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Crew Dragon capsule was scheduled to take place Sunday, 22nd June, from NASA's Launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. The mission will carry four astronauts, including India's Shubhanshu Shukla, to the International Space Station for a two-week-long mission. While the Falcon 9- Crew Dragon pair have a great track record in executing their missions safely, the ongoing delays have turned out to be seemingly unprecedented.

In the case of the Boeing Starliner launched by the ULA Atlas V rocket, it was the maiden astronaut-carrying flight of the Starliner craft and the maiden astronaut-carrying mission of the Atlas V rocket. Therefore, it was an experimental mission for both the Atlas V rocket and the Starliner spacecraft, which means that some issues were expected. Usually, maiden flights of any new space transportation system are a tense affair for the executing agency/company and offer a real-world test of the system. In contrast, for Axiom Space, the Axiom-4 mission is their fourth mission involving astronauts. Also, the SpaceX Falcon 9-Crew Dragon pair have a great track record in executing over a dozen human spaceflight missions safely, which is why the ongoing delays have turned out to be seemingly unprecedented. Notably, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has done over 490 launches, with an incredible overall success rate of over 99.5 per cent.

"NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX continue reviewing launch opportunities for Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. NASA has made the decision to stand down from a launch on Sunday, June 22, and will target a new launch date in the coming days," read a post from the US space agency NASA.

NASA highlighted the need for additional time to continue evaluating International Space Station operations after recent repair work in the aft (back) most segment of the orbital laboratory’s Russian Zvezda service module. Because of the space station’s interconnected and interdependent systems, NASA wants to ensure the station is ready for additional crew members, and the agency is taking the time necessary to review data, it said.

Axiom-4 launch was originally targeted for May 29th, it was pushed to June 8th, June 9th, June 10th, June 11th, June 19th, 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 continues to remain 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.

Opportunities for launch till June 30th or from 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 blastoff to 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.

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.

About Axiom-4 and its astronauts

Axiom-4 will 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 Organisation) 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-timers 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 (Rs.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.