The Axiom 4 mission is facing an uncertain delay after its scheduled launch on Wednesday evening was aborted due to problems in the rocket. The mission is to carry India’s Shubh Shantanu Shukla and three others to the International Space Station in outer space.

The mission was supposed to take off from NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday at 5:30 PM IST. But after tests were conducted on Monday, a leak of liquid oxygen from the Falcon 9 rocket was detected. SpaceX, the company which produced these rockets, initially said that it would be able to fix the problems by Tuesday night to enable a launch on Wednesday. But later, the company decided to put off the launch to allow more time to carry out the repair work.

“Standing down from tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch of AX4 to the Space Station to allow additional time for SpaceX team to repair the LOx leak identified during post-static fire booster inspections. Once complete and pending range availability, we will share a new launch date,” stated SpaceX on Wednesday morning. Till Tuesday evening, there was no update on the new launch date and time.

What Does Liquid Oxygen Do?

Liquid oxygen is a critical component of rocket propulsion, since it allows the combustion of the main fuel. Oxygen remains in liquid state at a very low temperature that can go as low as -180°C. The leak of this liquid oxygen can happen either in the storage chamber of the rocket or in the pipeline that supplies the LOx to the rocket engine. This leak can reduce the amount of liquid oxygen available for enabling combustion of the main fuel. In the worst case, it could trigger a fire or an explosion.

“As part of launch vehicle preparation to validate the performance of booster stage of Falcon 9 launch vehicle, a seven-second hot test was carried out on the launchpad on Monday. It is understood that liquid nitrogen leakage was detected in the propulsion bed during the test. Based on the discussion on this topic by ISRO team with the experts of SpaceX, it has been decided to correct the leak and carry out the necessary validation test before clearing for the launch. Hence, the launch of Axiom 4, slated for 11 June 2025, for sending first Indian Gaganyatri to ISS is postponed,” said ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan, who was present in the US to witness the launch.