Astronauts told to shelter on spacecraft after air leaks are found on ISS

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video

Up Next

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been told to shelter as an urgent repair is needed to fix air leaks.

Five out of seven cosmonauts in the Russian section of the ISS have been told to shelter inside the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon ‘Freedom’ spacecraft.

The remaining two are carrying out urgent repairs following a leak in the transfer tunnel.

There have been cracks in the spacecraft for years, but up until now they have just patched over.

The Russian Space Agency noticed last month a fresh pressure drop in the tunnel, prompting the more intense repair today.

Nasa spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said: ‘The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date.

Archive picture of the International Space Station photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, November 2018. A Space Station astronaut has captured jaw-dropping aurora over Earth. Expedition 74 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir shot the vibrant phenomenon from 250 miles up ? along with a vivid Milky Way and Elon Musk's Starlink satellites. She said Tuesday (April 28): "Did you know that the Milky Way is even milkier when viewed from the Southern Hemisphere? This is because from the southern side of our planet, we get a clearer, more direct view of the dense galactic core. Here?s a look at the Milky Way starting over the Southern Ocean (between Australia and Antarctica) from our SpaceX Dragon window, complete with some aurora (Southern Lights) and fleeting Starlink satellites. Enjoy the view!" Aurora are natural light displays caused by charged solar particles interacting with Earth?s magnetic field and atmosphere. Photo released 29/04/2026
Five out of seven cosmonauts in the Russian section of the ISS have been told to shelter inside the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon ‘Freedom’ spacecraft (Picture: ISS/NASA/SWNS)
FILE PHOTO: NASA???s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot before launching to the ISS (Picture: Reuters)

‘The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts.

‘Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5.

‘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.

‘We continue to work with our Russian counterparts, along with the rest of the international community that supports the space station, to arrive at a more permanent resolution.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *