Here’s when Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu can launch into space: sooner than anybody thought before

The Axiom-4 mission carrying four crew members including one from Hungary, Tibor Kapu, to the International Space Station (ISS) was postponed due to a technical snag this week. The Hungarian to Orbit (Hunor) programme wrote that Kapu might be launched into space next Thursday.

“As part of launch vehicle preparation to validate the performance of the booster stage of the 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,” V. Narayanan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said in a statement.

Reparation in progress

“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 June 11 is postponed.”

Elon Musk’s SpaceX also said it is “standing down” from Falcon 9’s launch of Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station from Launch Complex at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday 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,” the agency said.

Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu member of the team

According to Space X, the crew in the mission will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences.

NASA said that Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

Earlier, the launch was postponed by a day from June 10 to June 11 due to weather conditions.

According to the Hungarian to Orbit (Hunor) programme, the earliest date when the crew can depart towards to the ISS is 19 June, next Thursday.

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Source: Anadolu News Agency, HUNOR Programme/FB