NDTV Exclusive: Close Call For Musk's SpaceX Rocket: How ISRO Helped Avert Space Disaster

The timely detection of a "crack in an oxidizer line" in the first stage of the Falcon-9 rocket - which will take four astronauts, including India's Shubhanshu Shukla, to the International Space Station -  averted a major disaster. The fault was observed following a demand for due diligence from the Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, Dr V Narayanan.

The Falcon-9 rocket will carry four astronauts - part of the Axiom 4 mission - to the International Space Station, where they will spend 14 days and conduct several experiments.

The "leak" has been fixed, and the ISRO has confirmed a new launch date for the mission - June 19. The back-and-forth between the ISRO and Axiom Space continued for several days. The mission was postponed five times before getting a new launch date.

How ISRO Played A Big Role

Experts who assessed the safety told NDTV that had the crack not been detected, the rocket could have suffered a major failure at lift off since liquid oxygen can be a cause of fire.

SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket at the launch pad. The launch vehicle will carry the Axiom-4 mission astronauts

A day before the lift off on June 10, William Gerstenmaier, Vice President for Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX said "We found a LOX (liquid oxygen) leak that was previously seen on the booster during its (Falcon-9) entry on the last mission and discovered that we had not fully repaired the booster during refurbishment, or we didn't find the leak and didn't get not correct it. We have now gone out to the launch pad. We're continuing to troubleshoot that," the SpaceX official said.

"We should complete it today, and we will have that back in configuration. We are installing a purge that will essentially mitigate the leak if it continues...So we will be fully ready to go fly," Mr Gerstenmaier added.

Despite admitting to a propellant leak, the SpaceX team decided to launch the ailing rocket on June 11. However, after learning of the "leak", ISRO chief, Dr Narayanan, strongly disagreed with the decision and demanded full correction, with validation by proper tests, including low-temperature leak tests. His insistence on due diligence to rectify the leak forced the SpaceX team to call off the launch on June 11.

ISRO chief Dr V Narayanan is standing alongside the CEO of Axiom Space, Tejpaul Bhatia.
Photo Credit: Axiom Space

SpaceX teams went back to the launch pad and carried out inspections, which led to a surprise and shocking detection of a "weld crack" - A big flaw in one of the liquid oxygen lines. This crack had gone unnoticed, even though the first stage is a recycled and refurbished one.

The cracked portion has been replaced after Dr Narayanan's insistence, and adequate tests have been carried out on the health of the repaired system.

Today, ISRO said, "During a follow-on coordination meeting between ISRO, Axiom Space, and SpaceX, it was confirmed that the liquid oxygen leak observed in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle has been successfully resolved."

NDTV requested a response from SpaceX, asking several questions via email, which remain unanswered. NDTV even tweeted to SpaceX, seeking answers to the questions emailed to them, but got no response. Emails sent to Axiom Space seeking more clarity remained unanswered, too.

However, in an oblique admission and acknowledgement of the role played by ISRO in averting a near disaster while ensuring safety, Mr Kam Ghaffarian, Executive Chairman, Axiom Space, on Thursday said, "We appreciate all the incredible work of our customers, NASA, and SpaceX on this Mission. This is the right thing to do for Axiom Space, for NASA, and our customers. We will continue to work with all of our partners to finalise a new launch date and look forward to flying the Ax-4 Mission soon."

Earlier, ISRO stated that "During the appraisal of technical issues by Axiom and SpaceX to the ISRO delegation on June 10, ISRO recommended to carry out in-situ repairs or replacement and conduct a low-temperature leak test to validate system performance and integrity, before proceeding with launch clearance."

A highly qualified 13-member ISRO team, stationed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was not convinced by the "band-aid-like" solution of a 'purge' offered by SpaceX on the oxidiser line leak.

ISRO has a highly qualified 13-member team stationed at the Kennedy Space Center to keep an eye on the safety of the Axiom-4 mission.
Photo Credit: Axiom Space

In a statement, ISRO Chairman, Dr V Narayanan, stated, "As part of launch vehicle preparation to validate the performance of the booster stage of the Falcon-9 launch vehicle, a seven-second hot test was carried out on the launch pad. It is understood that LOX leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test. Based on the discussion on this topic by the ISRO team with the experts of Axiom and SpaceX, it has been decided to correct the leak and carry out necessary validation tests before clearing for the launch."

The ISRO chief is a top expert on liquid engines and was part of the team that helped India build a cryogenic engine. He is aware of the risks of a liquid oxygen leak.

Sources told NDTV that the Hungarian and Polish teams supported the stand taken by the Indian delegation. The leadership of Axiom Space is also relieved by the 'Safety-first, Launch-later' stand taken by ISRO. The Indian space organisation's handling of the situation is appreciated by many at Cape Canaveral.

The cracked line has since been replaced, but Dr Narayanan asserts that "safety and mission integrity remain our top priorities". Experts say the crack could have fractured the fuel line since massive vibrations take place at liftoff.

Observers, not party to the Axiom-4 mission, told NDTV, it is probably the first time someone has taken on the formidable SpaceX. The American aerospace expert suggested that SpaceX did not realise that India's space agency was headed by a technical expert and not a politician.

Axiom-4 Mission And India's Stake

India is a stakeholder in the mission after it purchased a seat on the Axiom-4 mission for Rs 550 crores. It seeks to mitigate all risks for the crew of Commander Peggy Whitson from the US, pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from India, and mission specialists, Slawosz Uzananski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

An expert from Florida said, "All four lives are equally important; a human-rated rocket has to be handled differently and not with quick fixes that are not fully validated, as was being provided by SpaceX."

At one stage, the Indian delegation was ready to pull out Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla from the mission if SpaceX had not carried out the corrections.

India's Science Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, supported ISRO's decision and said, "Safety, precision, commitment to excellence were paramount since a liquid oxygen (LOX) leak was detected during a seven-second hot test of Falcon 9's booster. After a joint review by ISRO, Axiom & SpaceX teams, it was decided to rectify the issue & revalidate before lift-off."

Yesterday, SpaceX said, "Falcon 9 wet dress rehearsal is complete. We'll continue to work closely with NASA and Axiom Space to determine the best launch opportunity for Dragon and the Ax-4 crew to the Space Station."

A source in Axiom Space said, "A wet dress rehearsal is a pre-launch test where the Falcon-9 is fully fuelled with liquid propellants, simulating a launch countdown, but without actual engine ignition. We are still standing by for a launch date. This is just ensuring readiness for the vehicle."

Meanwhile, NASA has said that it was reviewing launch opportunities no earlier than June 19.

SpaceX said that it has completed 500 launches of the Falcon-9 rocket, which has a 99.6% success record, but others point out that the Falcon rocket has had just 10 human space flights, all successful, but still a tiny legacy compared to the Russian Soyuz rockets and the Space Shuttle.

The Falcon-9 rocket stands tall on Pad 39-A, the same pad used by Astronaut Neil Armstrong for his moon landing. India's Astronaut Group Captain Shukla and three other crew members are still in quarantine awaiting the launch date.

Meanwhile, in a separate headache of a 'pressure issue' on the International Space Station, ISRO said, "Axiom Space informed that they are working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module on board the International Space Station."

If the launch does not happen on June 19, then the window is still open till June 30.