Axiom-4 mission: All eyes on weather conditions as agencies target June 11 launch
Even as the launch of Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has once again been postponed, agencies associated with launch activities are closely monitoring the weather conditions at Florida in the USA.
The Axiom-4 mission (AX-4) to the ISS, which was scheduled on June 10 at 8.22 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) from Launch Complex 39A at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was postponed to June 11 due to weather conditions.
At the Ax-4 pre-launch press conference held on June 9 (June 10 in India), following the Launch Readiness Review (LRR), which evaluates the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft, mission hardware, and readiness for launch, Jimmy Taeger, Launch Weather Officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force spoke about the weather forecast over Florida.
He said that there was surface high pressure to the south east of central Florida, and what it does is it typically produces south west flow across the area.
'Now over the next couple of days, the surface high pressure is going to move further towards the north and that is going to switch our primary flow towards the south east. South east flow does tend to create some more isolated scattered showers to thunder showers in the morning time,' he said.
He added that even though the Probability of Violation (POV) was lower for the initial attempt (June 10), for the next attempt on Wednesday (June 11) the POV does increase to 20%.
'And as we get to Thursday (June 12), the backup opportunity POV increases a little bit more to about 25%. So though it is on the lower end, there does look like there could be a possibility of isolated scattered thunderstorms near the area at the launch time. But for the ascent corridor even though the winds are pretty strong right now, it does look like winds are going to be improving over the next couple of days. As we get to Wednesday, winds will be even better, and Thursday, even better than Wednesday,' he added.
Mr. Taeger said that a close eye would be kept on possible showers and thunderstorms along the ascent corridor.
When asked if there was a launch window for the AX-4 mission, Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA said that there are launch opportunities till June 30.
'In terms of launch opportunities for the mission, we have launch opportunities all the way through June 30, and then the Russian heavy progress cargo vehicle will be undocking, and a new one will be coming up and docking at the ISS. So, we will have a brief cut-off for that, and a brief cut-off for high Solar Beta. Then we pick up again like in the middle of July. So, plenty of opportunities to fly the vehicle,' Ms. Weigel said.
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