Axiom-4 mission to space station put on hold
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is prepared to launch its Crew Dragon capsule and an International crew from the United States, Poland, Hungary and India on Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
June 20 (UPI) -- NASA will reschedule the Axiom-4 commercial mission to the International Space Station after postponing a launch that had been planned for than Sunday, the space agency said.
The agency said it needs to ensure the space station is ready and able to receive added crew members, according to a statement released Thursday.
The station's orbital laboratory's Zvezda service module was repaired recently, and NASA is reviewing data to confirm the station's interdependent and interconnected systems are prepared to handle additional people aboard.
The planned commercial trip to the space station is to utilize a SpaceX Dragon rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The four-person flight crew members are from different countries, with Indian Space Research Organization astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to serve as pilot and European Space Agency astronauts Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary as mission specialists.
The mission is to be commanded by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space.
"With a culturally diverse crew, we are not only advancing scientific knowledge but also fostering international collaboration," said Whitson in a quote from the Axiom Space website,.
"Our previous missions set the stage and with Ax-4, we ascend even higher, bringing more nations to low-Earth orbit and expanding humanity's reach among the stars."
According to Axiom Space, the mision is to be "the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom Space mission aboard the International Space Station to date."
With the space station in low-Earth orbit, crew members will conduct research under microgravity based in biological, life and material sciences and also undertake Earth observation.
The astronauts are being kept in quarantine, and the SpaceX rocket and Crew Dragon capsule are on standby at Kennedy Space Center.
Axiom-4 liftoff was originally planned for June 11, but then scrubbed after a leak was found in the Falcon 9 rocket.
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