NASA Orders ISS Crew Members to Briefly Shelter During Leak Repair Work
Key takeaways
- On Friday, NASA directed five people on the International Space Station to temporarily shelter in a Space X Dragon spacecraft after engineers discovered air leakage in the Russian segment of the station.
- Astronauts detected two new air leaks on the transfer tube immediately adjacent to the Zvezda service module.
- "Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5," said Bethany Stevens, NASA spokesperson, in a post on X.
On Friday, NASA directed five people on the International Space Station to temporarily shelter in a Space X Dragon spacecraft after engineers discovered air leakage in the Russian segment of the station. Four Space X Crew-12 crew members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams entered the Space X Dragon spacecraft in case NASA required an evacuation. After a few hours, they returned to regular operations.
Astronauts detected two new air leaks on the transfer tube immediately adjacent to the Zvezda service module. This 43-foot-long module serves as the primary living quarters and houses the life support systems on the Russian orbital segment of the ISS. Russian astronauts repaired one of the leaks and decided to do more expensive repairs on the other.
"Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5," said Bethany Stevens, NASA spokesperson, in a post on X. "Out of an abundance of caution, NASA has directed all four of the agency's SpaceX Crew-12 members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams to assume an elevated safety posture in the Dragon spacecraft while the repair is underway."