Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station has been postponed to the 22nd of this month to allow NASA to evaluate the operations on the orbital lab after the recent repairs in the Russian section. This was announced by Axiom Space. In a social media post, Indian Space Research Organisation said that Axiom Space has confirmed the next possible launched date based on the readiness status of the Space X Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Dragon spacecraft, repairs in the Zvezda module of the ISS, weather conditions, and the health and preparedness of the crew in quarantine.

Union Science and Technology Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, said that the launch date has been indicated after assessing the key parameters. This is the fourth private mission by NASA to ISS, which will be led by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, while ISRO’s Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as the mission’s pilot, and Poland’s Sławosz Uznański and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu will serve as mission specialists.