Shukla to take halwa, aamras to ISS on SpaceX mission

Since Indian food is high on spices, he initially didn't get permission to carry them, his sister Suchi says

- BY STEPHEN N R

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is poised to make history as the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX early yesterday called off the Axiom-4 launch owing to a snag it has been unable to fix in the Falcon-9 rocket. The Elon Musk firm had, earlier on Monday, said that the issue could be fixed before the launch scheduled for 5.30pm on June 11.

Late Tuesday night Eastern Time, the firm said: "Standing down from tomorrow's Falcon-9 launch of Ax-4 to the International Space Station to allow additional time for SpaceX teams to repair the LOX (liquid oxygen) leak identified during post-static fire booster inspections. Once complete — and pending range availability — we will share a new launch."