NASA and Axiom Space have suspended the launch of the Axiom-4 mission, which was supposed to allow the first Indian astronaut to reach the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The cause was a new loss of pressurization, detected in the Russian module. The leaks are increasingly numerous and are causing concern, to the point that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk mentioned shutting down the ISS earlier than planned, as early as 2027.
On his X platform, the man declared: "even if SpaceX makes billions of dollars from transporting astronauts and cargo to the ISS, I still recommend that it be deorbited within two years." He added that "There are serious concerns about the long-term safety of the ISS. Some of its components are simply too old, and clearly, that risk increases over time."
Is Elon Musk trying to protect SpaceX?
But the ISS concerns hide other concerns at SpaceX. Just hours before the supposed launch of the Axiom-4 mission, Elon Musk's company had already postponed the takeoff of the Falcon 9 rocket due to a liquid oxygen leak in one of the boosters. On Tuesday, June 10, SpaceX announced the delay to give its teams time to work on the problem.
William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president of construction and flight reliability, said on Monday, June 9, that the leak was a problem from a previous rocket mission to deploy Starlink satellites. SpaceX, which reuses its launchers, has already managed to launch a single rocket more than twenty times, and last March set another record with two launches of the same rocket in less than 10 days.
The leak on board the ISS is still a godsend to make people forget the subject of this malfunction of a Falcon 9 thruster. On Wednesday, June 11, when NASA and Roscosmos opened an investigation into a loss of pressurization in the Russian module, Elon Musk wasted no time in sharing his concern. He took the opportunity to cite a post on X by Dr. Casey Handmer, criticizing the precarious structural integrity of the ISS.
Let's remember that even before this malfunction, a project to deorbit the International Space Station by the five space agencies that occupy it was already converging toward a date at the end of the decade. Russia is aiming for 2028, while the United States, Europe, Canada, and Japan are aiming for 2030.
Without the ISS, the cards will be reshuffled to revive projects for orbiting space stations. This will give even more contracts to SpaceX, which should already be handling the maneuver to deorbit the modules of the manned satellite. Until the ISS is truly abandoned, the Russians and Americans will continue to work together for at least two years.
A postponement that slows India's space ambitions
India is the big loser from the postponement of the Axiom-4 mission. His space agency, ISRO, is counting on this liftoff to send its first astronaut to the ISS. At 39, Shubhanshu Shukla is set to become the second Indian to go into space, 41 years after Rakesh Sharma. He won't be the last, as the world's fourth-largest power is planning its first mission with its own Gaganyaan spacecraft and launcher within two years.
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