A deteriorating air leak on the International Space Station (ISS) led five astronauts to seek shelter and prepare for potential evacuation for about two hours on Friday as Russia endeavored to mend a crack on its part of the orbital laboratory, as per NASA. The four Crew-12 mission astronauts — two American astronauts, one from France, and a Russian cosmonaut — along with an additional U.S. astronaut were instructed by NASA mission control at 9:04 a.m. ET on Friday to enter their SpaceX-built Crew Dragon spacecraft attached to the station, according to NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens.
Approximately two hours later, NASA rescinded the order and informed the astronauts they could return to the station while both the agency and its Russian counterparts assessed the air leak rate. Both NASA and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, the primary operators of the station, have been in discussions for months regarding the cause and potential solutions to minor air leaks on Russia’s Zvezda service module, a crucial component of the ISS where astronauts reside and work in space.
Former NASA chief astronaut Chris Cassidy, who led Expedition 63 aboard the ISS in 2020, mentioned that the staff first became aware of a leak during that time. Cassidy stated, “It’s been a persistent issue for the last five or six years, with engineers on both sides of the globe devising plans to address it, but it has proven to be challenging.”
Roscosmos reported on Friday that its specialists identified two leaks on the ISS but reassured that there was no immediate danger to the crew. The first leak was swiftly sealed, and efforts were underway to seal the second, with no threat to the spacecraft’s systems reported by Roscosmos.
The air leaks, which had been relatively minor in recent months, escalated on Friday from one pound of air per day to two pounds, according to a senior NASA official. Cassidy highlighted the significance of this increase, stating, “That’s double the leak rate. So if they were monitoring a situation that may have provided them with, for example, a month of breathable atmosphere until reaching alarm levels, now suddenly that time frame is reduced to 15 days.”
The ISS currently accommodates seven astronauts from two missions, including the Crew-12 team and another crew comprising one U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts who arrived in November. The latter pair, not implementing evacuation procedures, intended to use a saw to access the crack causing the air leak, a method that NASA officials disagreed with, leading to mission control in Houston issuing safe-haven instructions.
Safe-haven orders on the ISS are infrequent, typically triggered by the risk of space debris collision or changes in air leak rates. Despite the challenges, astronauts have never had to evacuate the ISS in its 27-year history. NASA expressed optimism about collaborating with Roscosmos to address the leaks permanently.
Efforts are underway in the U.S. Congress to extend the life of the space station until 2032, allowing more time for developing a replacement. The proposed legislation is supported by bipartisan leaders in the Senate committee on commerce, science, and transportation, with a focus on countering China’s expanding presence in space. Discussions are ongoing in the Senate and House of Representatives to finalize the legislation.
