- SpaceX overlooked a liquid oxygen leak in Falcon-9 before the Axiom-4 ISS mission launch, ISRO chief said
- ISRO engineers detected a crack in the oxidiser line that could have caused a catastrophic failure
- SpaceX corrected the issue only after ISRO's insistence, preventing potential loss of astronaut lives
SpaceX had probably taken "lightly" the liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket that launched the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, putting at risk the lives of four astronauts, including Shubhanshu Shukla, ISRO chairman V Narayanan said here on Thursday.
Narayanan said it was at the insistence of ISRO engineers that SpaceX examined the leak detected in the oxidiser lines that carry liquid oxygen to the rocket engines and discovered a crack that could have proved fatal.
"If with the crack the rocket lifts off, with the vibrations, it will give way the moment it lifts off. Once it gives way, it is a catastrophic situation, nothing else," Narayanan said here.
He was addressing a press conference along with Axiom-4 astronaut Shukla and his backup for the mission, Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, and Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
"To their (SpaceX's) surprise, it was a crack. Finally, everything had to be corrected. Probably, they took it a little lightly," the ISRO chief said.
Naryanan said the ISRO team, which has worked on liquid oxygen-powered engines for over 40 years, insisted on a complete correction, which was carried out by the SpaceX team.
"But for the complete correction, it would have ended in a catastrophic situation. We have saved the lives of four astronauts," the ISRO chief said.
Shukla said that at every stage, the four astronauts who were part of the Axiom-4 mission were briefed about the delay and the reasons for it.
Narayanan credited the Indian education system and ISRO training that led to stopping a faulty rocket from taking off and ensuring the safety of the astronauts.
He said before the rocket was moved for the June 11 lift-off, an eight-second test was carried out to understand the performance of the engines before giving clearance for the launch.
"They completed the tests, and when we discussed, they did not open up the results, and only said that the Committees have cleared and we are going ahead with the launch programme," Naryanan said.
"Probably, they thought it was a minor leakage. That is what the understanding was. It was an oxygen sensor that had picked up. Based on ISRO team's insistence, a complete correction was done by the SpaceX team," he said.
Shukla said the SpaceX team, the NASA team, the Axiom team and the ISRO team were very transparent to the crew, and there was never any time that they did not know what was wrong and what was happening.
"Everybody was always aware of what was happening. Nobody was going to send the rocket out if there was a problem," Shukla said.
"I am ready to put my life in Dr. Narayanan's hands, and whenever he makes a rocket and a vehicle, I am ready to go in that. That is the kind of trust I have in him," said Shukla.
The crack and other issues were fixed, but on June 12, NASA announced it was working with the Russian space agency Roscosmos to evaluate a leak in the Zvezda module, the Russian-built service module of the ISS that houses key life-support and docking systems.
The Axiom-4 mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on June 25 and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on July 15.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
