Axiom-4 Mission: ISS leaks ‘small’; ‘not uncommon’ to delay launch: Nasa

BENGALURU: Nasa, which, along with Axiom Space, delayed the launch of the Axiom-4 (Ax4) mission to the International Space Station (ISS) owing to leaks in a Russian service module of the ISS earlier this week, has categorised the same as “small”. The US space agency is continuing to work with Roscosmos (Russian space agency) “to understand the most recent repair efforts to seal small leaks”. The leaks located in the aft segment of the station’s Zvezda service module have been monitored by flight controllers for several years, Nasa said.“Recent repair efforts by Roscosmos appear to have stabilised pressure in the transfer tunnel, though teams are still evaluating whether the leaks have been fully sealed or if air is flowing into the area from the main station,” it said.Nasa and Axiom, on June 12, delayed Ax4 4 to allow time for the ongoing assessment of the repair work. The agency said, “It is not uncommon to adjust launch schedules around operational changes aboard the space station”, adding that they are now looking at a June 19 launch possibility.“…Teams are making progress evaluating the transfer tunnel configuration, resulting in an updated launch opportunity for the private astronaut mission,” Nasa said.In addition, the agency also confirmed that Elon Musk’s SpaceX has completed repairs to address the liquid oxygen (LOX) leak identified during the post-static fire inspections of the Falcon-9 rocket last week. The company has since conducted a wet dress rehearsal of the rocket.Isro, which had Saturday said the Ax-4 launch may happen on June 19, also said: “Observations on Falcon-9 liquid oxygen leak have been resolved by SpaceX. Axiom Space is coordinating with Nasa on the International Space Station’s Zvezda module anomaly. The earliest possible launch date for Ax4 is being worked out.”Union minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday, reiterating the government’s efforts to boost space and other critical sectors, said: “…Axiom mission has a lot of components from the department of biotechnology and Shukla will conduct exclusive experiments. Axiom has conveyed that all the issues that led to the delay has been addressed.”The Ax-4 mission, which will be commanded by US’ Peggy Whitson and piloted by India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, marks the return to space for Shukla and two other crew members of the mission, ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.The crew will launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. So far, there have been at least four postponements of the launch date — not very uncommon for crewed missions, going by previous missions carried out, before Nasa and Axiom announced the ISS leak causing the latest postponement.