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.”