The Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying Indian astronaut Shubanshu Shukla and three others, has been postponed again—this time due to a technical glitch in the launch vehicle.

A new launch date is expected to be announced soon.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Wednesday announced that a liquid oxygen (LOx) leak was detected in the Falcon 9 rocket during post-static fire inspections, prompting a delay in the launch to allow time for repairs.

In a post on X, the aerospace company said: “Standing down from tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch of Ax-4 to the @Space_Station to allow additional time for SpaceX teams 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.”

Expanding on the reason behind the postponement of the Axiom-4 mission, originally scheduled for June 11 to send the first Indian Gaganyatri to the ISS, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V. Narayanan said a liquid oxygen (LOX) leak was detected in the Falcon 9 rocket during a seven-second hot test to evaluate the booster stage’s performance.

“As part of launch vehicle preparation to validate the performance of booster stage of Falcon 9 launch vehicle, seven second of hot test was carried out on the launch pad. It is understood that LOX leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test. Based on the discussion on this topic by ISRO team with the experts of Axiom and SpaceX it has been decided to correct the leak and carry out necessary validation test before clearing for the launch. Hence the launch of Axiom 04 slated for  11th June 2025 for sending first Indian Gaganyatri to ISS is postponed,” ISRO said in a post. 

This marks the fourth delay of the mission. Initially scheduled for May 29, the launch was first pushed to June 8 to allow additional preparation time. It was then delayed twice more—first without an official reason, and later due to unfavorable weather conditions—before the current technical issue forced another rescheduling.