Axiom-4 mission launch scrubbed as SpaceX detects leak in Falcon 9 rocket

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UPI

June 10 (UPI) -- The Axiom-4 mission launch, the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, was canceled for a second time Tuesday after SpaceX detected a liquid oxygen leak in its Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX announced Tuesday night in a post on X that it was "standing down" from Wednesday's launch of Axiom-4.

"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."

SpaceX scrubbed the first liftoff scheduled for Tuesday morning, due to high winds at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Falcon 9 was rescheduled to launch Axiom-4 at 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, with a backup window available at 7:37 a.m. Thursday.

Axiom Space, which is based in Houston, is building the first commercial space station, which is scheduled to deploy sometime before 2030.

The four astronauts, who make up the mission, include Peggy Whitson, 65, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space. Whitson will command the commercial mission.

Shubhanshu Shukla with the Indian Space Research Organization will pilot. Mission specialists with the European Space Agency include Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

The Axiom-4 mission is scheduled to last 14 days, as the crew conducts 60 science experiments and demonstrations "focused on human research, Earth observation and life, biological and material sciences," according to SpaceX.

The Axiom-3 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 18, 2024, for the first commercial spaceflight of European citizens.

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