Shubhanshu Shukla's Axion-4 mission postponed again, no launch on June 22

PTC News Desk: The Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed once again. In an update posted Friday morning, the ISS official X account announced that NASA has decided not to proceed with the planned launch on Sunday, June 22, and will set a new date in the coming days.

Earlier, Axiom Space had stated that NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX were targeting no earlier than June 22 for the launch of their fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS, known as Axiom Mission 4. However, NASA has opted to delay the launch to allow more time to assess station operations, particularly after recent maintenance in the aft section of the Zvezda service module.

Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space's director of human spaceflight, will command the mission. ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to serve as the pilot. The mission specialists include Sawosz Uznaski-Winiewski, a European Space Agency project astronaut from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

In the meantime, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft remain ready at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Due to the complexity of ISS systems, NASA is proceeding with caution to ensure the station is fully ready to host the incoming crew.