New launch date gives time to finalise plans, says Nasa; Shukla, crew quarantine likely from May 24-25

Time of India

15-05-2025

Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla
BENGALURU:
With the new date for the launch of
Axiom-4 mission
(Ax-4) to the
International Space Station
(ISS) being pushed by more than a week to June 8 from the original May 29,
Nasa
has said the revised schedule gives more time to finalise plans.
Ax-4 with four
crew members
— Commander Peggy Whitson of the US, India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla as pilot, and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary — will see astronauts of India, Poland and Hungary go to the ISS for the first time.
'After reviewing the ISS flight schedule, Nasa and its partners are shifting launch opportunities for several upcoming missions. The schedule adjustments provide more time to finalise mission plans, spacecraft readiness, and logistics. The Ax-4 crew is scheduled to launch on June 8 at 9.11am Eastern Time from Florida,' Nasa Space Operations said.
The private crew will launch aboard a
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft
and Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
Armstrong launched from complex
Incidentally, the KSC Launch Complex 39A, built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V launch vehicle, has been used to support several Nasa crewed spaceflight missions, including the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and the Space Shuttle. The Apollo 11 mission put the first man — Neil Armstrong — on the lunar surface.
'The private [Ax-4] astronauts will work alongside the Expedition 73 crew aboard the orbiting laboratory for a short time, conducting mission-related science, outreach, and commercial activities,' Nasa said.
Sharing details about revised schedules for other missions, Nasa said as part of Crew-11, now being targeted for late July, Nasa astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Jaxa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos (Russian space agency) cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will launch to the space station aboard a Dragon and Falcon 9 from the same launch complex.
Quarantine from May 24-25
TOI, which had reported last week about a likely delay in Ax-4, had reported about the new date — 6.41pm (IST) or 9.11am Eastern Time, on June 8 — announced late Wednesday.
According to sources involved in the Ax-4 mission, Shukla and the other crew members are expected to begin their mandatory pre-launch quarantine — to minimise the risk of illness on board spacecraft and to ensure the crew's optimal health and physical condition — either on May 24 or 25.
The crew has already undergone a rigorous training regime that involved training at multiple facilities belonging to Axiom Space, Nasa, European Space Agency and SpaceX. While Shukla is the designated pilot for the mission, India had sent two of its Gaganyaan astronaut-designates to Axiom. Group Captain Prashant Nair, who also trained with Shukla, is the latter's backup on the mission.
India is spending around Rs 548 crore on the mission. Other than launch, the cost also includes training of both Shukla and Prashanth, among other components.