Space travel Commercial Axiom space mission postponed due to leaks
The fourth commercial "Axiom" space mission has been postponed at short notice due to a technical problem. For the first time, an Indian, a Hungarian and a Pole are to fly to the ISS space station as part of the mission.
11.06.2025, 04:57
SDA
During an inspection, a liquid oxygen leak was discovered on the rocket, according to tech billionaire Elon Musk's private space company SpaceX. As soon as this has been repaired and there is a new launch option, this will be communicated.
The crew was due to launch with a Falcon 9 rocket on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida. The crew includes Shubhanshu Shukla from India, Tibor Kapu from Hungary, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.
While Whitson has already been to space several times, it would be the first space flight for each of the three amateur astronauts. Kapu and Uznanski-Wisniewski are engineers, Shukla works for the Indian Air Force. They would be the first people from India, Poland and Hungary on board the ISS. People from all three countries have been in space before, first on Russian Soyuz missions in the 1970s and 1980s.
Axiom Space's fourth commercial space mission
The crew of the "Ax-4" mission will spend around two weeks on board the ISS. It is the fourth commercial space mission by the US company Axiom Space, based in Houston, Texas, in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX. The company organized the first private mission to the ISS in 2022, followed by others in 2023 and 2024.
At just under three weeks, the third Axiom mission was the longest commercial space flight to date. According to media reports, such a flight costs around 70 million euros per passenger.
