ISRO chairman V. Narayanan addresses an ISRO Press Meet, on the Nationwide Media Centre in New Delhi on August 21, 2025.
| Picture Credit score: ANI
The Indian Area Analysis Organisation (ISRO) Chairman, V. Narayanan, on Thursday (August 21, 2025), stated the Falcon 9 rocket crew that launched Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) took the pre-launch leak within the oxidiser line to one of many engines “frivolously”. He stated that had it not been for the ISRO’s insistence on a full-fledged take a look at, the leak might have brought on a “catastrophic failure” of the Axiom-4 mission that efficiently ferried 4 astronauts to the ISS and introduced them again.
The mission was aboard the SpaceX-owned Falcon 9 rocket, which has a monitor document of profitable missions to the ISS. It was the primary time in 40 years that an Indian made it to house. Costing India practically ₹548 crore, the mission is believed to offer precious info for ISRO’s upcoming manned flight missions akin to Gaganyaan, scheduled for mid-2027.

The Axiom-4 mission was presupposed to be launched on June 11, after the fourth rescheduling, however that was postponed when a liquid oxygen leak was found throughout an engine take a look at within the lead-up to the lift-off. The choice to postpone, it emerges, was controversial as there gave the impression to be variations between the Falcon-9 crew and ISRO on whether or not the leak was critical sufficient to postpone the mission.
Two months after the rocket lifted off on June 25, and which has efficiently returned, Mr. Narayanan disclosed interactions between the Falcon crew and ISRO that recommend that the Falcon crew was not upfront with sharing knowledge from the engine take a look at outcomes, nor might it fulfill the ISRO probing on particulars of the leak.

“I feel they assumed that this was a minor leak as a result of it wasn’t their ‘leak’ sensor however an oxygen sensor that had picked up (the leak). We learnt of this from the press (a press convention by SpaceX the day past) and after we requested them the situation of the leak, they stated they couldn’t discover it. This was surprising to us. Then we requested them for the speed at which oxygen was leaking out; they stated this couldn’t be shared because it was “confidential” knowledge. “We requested them practically 14 questions; solely two had been answered,” stated Mr. Narayanan.
“ISRO has 40 years of expertise with liquid engines, and we all know that if there’s a block someplace, it may be rectified, but when the supply of a leak is because of a crack, it can’t be allowed. We insisted on a “full correction” they usually needed to name off the launch on June 10, 5.15 p.m. Following this, the (Area-X) administration directed the Falcon crew to seek out the situation of the leak. It turned out to be a crack within the gasoline line. Through the checks, it emerged that the crack was widening; we now have the information. If the rocket had been to carry off with such a crack, the following vibrations will trigger it to present means. That can solely end in a catastrophic scenario… They most likely took this a bit of frivolously,” he added.

The next day (June 12), the leak was repaired and checks had been carried out to ISRO’s satisfaction. Subsequent leaks had been detected within the Russian service module of the ISS, which led to additional launch delays till June 25 when Mr. Shukla and his companions lastly lifted off.
Captain Shukla, in response to queries on the press convention, on whether or not Mr. Narayanan “had saved his life” by insisting on fixing the leak stated, “Everybody who does human house flight missions are very accountable. There have been a number of postponements, and this wasn’t the one cause. It helped that we had technical experience from the ISRO and these discussions occurred. Finally that is what builds belief. ISRO, NASA and Area X have all the time been clear and have had common briefings on rising points.”
Revealed – August 21, 2025 11:28 pm IST
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