USA/ Axiom: Possible launch of Uznański-Wiśniewski mission on June 19

NASA, Axiom Space and SpaceX are considering the possibility of launching the Ax-4 mission with Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Thursday, June 19, Axiom, the company organizing the mission to the International Space Station (ISS), announced in a press release.

The launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will take place "no earlier than Thursday, June 19," the company said in a statement.

It added that SpaceX has fixed a liquid oxygen leak on its Falcon 9 rocket, and after recent repairs to the Russian Zvezda module, part of the ISS, pressure remains stable, after previously declining. Both of these issues have led to previous decisions to cancel previously planned launches.

In its statement, NASA said that the stabilization of pressure in the Russian part of the ISS could mean that small leaks have been sealed. However, it noted that "teams also consider that the stable pressure could be the result of a small amount of air flowing into the transfer tunnel through the hatch seal from the main part of the space station."

"Teams are assessing the condition of the transfer tunnel and the hatch seal between the space station and the rear of the Starship," it added.

After repairing the oxygen leak, the Falcon 9 rocket underwent a "wet dress rehearsal," i.e. going through all launch procedures, including fueling.

According to NASA, the current window of opportunity for the mission to launch extends to June 30.

The launch of the flight - the fourth private mission to the ISS by Axiom Space - had been postponed three times; the original date was to be May 29, the next ones - June 8, 10 and 11. The astronauts - former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (commander), pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from India and specialist scientists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu from Hungary - will spend up to 14 days on the ISS, performing about 60 scientific experiments, including 13 prepared by Polish scientists. They will fly to the station aboard the Crew Dragon capsule - the last one created by SpaceX - for which this will be the first flight into space.

Uznański-Wiśniewski will be the first Polish astronaut on the International Space Station.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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