The launch of the Ax-4 mission, which includes Polish and Hungarian astronauts Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu, has been postponed to Wednesday. „The launch will not take place earlier than Wednesday, June 11, due to strong winds in the ascent corridor,” announced the organizers of the mission.
The flight was originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, after 5:00 p.m. CET, the organizers released an official statement informing the public of the delay. „SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Wednesday, June 11, for the launch of Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” the statement said. The launch is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which corresponds to 2:00 p.m. in Europe. A backup launch window is also available on Thursday, June 12, at 7:37 a.m. ET (1:37 p.m.).
This marks yet another delay for the historic mission. The launch was initially planned for May 29, then rescheduled to June 8, and has now been pushed back once again.
Ax-4 will be the fourth commercial crewed mission organized by Axiom Space. The participation of the Polish astronaut is the result of an agreement between the Polish Ministry of Development and Technology and the European Space Agency (ESA) to prepare and carry out the Polish scientific and technological mission IGNIS aboard the ISS. The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) is also involved in the mission’s preparations.
