We saved lives of four astronauts by detecting oxygen leak: Isro chief

V Narayanan said Isro engineers' insistence on a full check forced SpaceX to fix a leaking oxygen line, failing which the Axiom-4 launch would have been catastrophic

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chairman V Narayanan on Thursday said the organisation’s insistence on a thorough check of an oxygen line saved the lives of four astronauts, including Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla.

 

Narayanan said SpaceX may have underestimated a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket that launched the Axiom-4 mission, and that such an oversight could have put the crew at grave risk.

 

“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.

 

‘Probably, they took it lightly’

 

Speaking at a press conference alongside Shukla, his backup Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, and Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Narayanan said it was at the insistence of Isro engineers that SpaceX examined oxidiser lines. The checks revealed a crack that could have had catastrophic consequences.

 

“To their (SpaceX’s) surprise also, it was a crack. Finally, everything had to be corrected. Probably, they took it a little lightly,” he said.

 

How the leak was detected

 

Narayanan credited Isro training for detecting the fault in time. He said an eight-second test was conducted before the planned June 11 lift-off to check engine performance.

 

“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,” Narayanan said, as quoted by PTI.

 

He added: “Probably, they thought it was a minor leakage. That is what was the understanding. It was an oxygen sensor that had picked up. Based on the Isro team’s insistence, a complete correction was done by the SpaceX team.”

 

Even after the crack and other issues were fixed, Nasa announced on June 12 that it was working with Russia’s Roscosmos to evaluate a leak in the Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS), which further delayed the launch.

 

Crew was fully briefed

 

Shukla said the astronauts were kept informed of the delay and the reasons behind it. “Everybody was always aware of what was happening. Nobody was going to send the rocket out if there was a problem,” he said.

 

“I am ready to put my life in Dr Narayanan’s hand 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,” Shukla added.

 

Successful completion of Axiom-4 mission

The Axiom-4 mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 25 and returned with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off California on July 1, making Shukla only the second Indian to travel to space.