Shubhanshu's space journey delayed; Axiom 4 launch postponed again

FLORIDA: The space journey of Shubhanshu Shukla has been postponed due to unfavourable weather conditions. The Axiom-4 mission, which was scheduled for tomorrow, has been rescheduled to the day after tomorrow, according to ISRO. The launch will now take place at 5.30 PM on Wednesday.

Shubhanshu Shukla, a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, was selected for this mission as part of the NASA-ISRO collaboration. If the mission is completed successfully, Shubhanshu will become the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS) and the first Indian to undertake a space mission after Rakesh Sharma.

Shubhamshu is one of four crew members aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The other crew members are mission commander Peggy Whitson (USA), Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary). The launch will use SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The Dragon capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket have already been positioned at Launch Pad 39A. Shubhanshu and the team will stay on the ISS for 14 days, during which they will conduct various scientific experiments.