NASA has ordered the five astronauts aboard the International Space Station to urgently relocate to the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft as a precautionary measure after another worsening air leak in the Russian service module, which the Russian crew is currently trying to patch.
NASA has ordered the five astronauts aboard the International Space Station to urgently relocate to the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft as a precautionary measure after another worsening air leak in the Russian service module, which the Russian crew is currently trying to patch.
This was reported on the social network X by Bethany Stevens, a spokeswoman for the space agency. According to her, the Russian space agency Roscosmos has discovered new microcracks in its segment and has begun a «large-scale repair operation.»
«As an extreme precaution, NASA has directed all four members of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission and astronaut Chris Williams to maintain enhanced safety measures inside the Dragon spacecraft while repairs are underway,» Stevens said. She added that the US continues to work with the Russians and other international partners to find a reliable and long-term solution to this problem.
The problem with the tightness of the Russian module has been going on for more than a year, but in recent days the rate of pressure loss has increased significantly. As NASA notes, the appearance of cracks in outdated Russian modules «has always been a problem that the agency is very closely monitoring.» It is currently unknown how long the astronauts will have to spend inside the SpaceX rescue capsule — officials from Elon Musk’s company and NASA have refrained from immediate comments.
There are currently 10 people on the ISS. Four of them arrived at the station in February of this year as part of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission (two NASA astronauts, a representative of the European Space Agency and one Russian cosmonaut). Three more researchers reached orbit last fall aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
The incident has reignited debate about the future of the orbiting laboratory. Under new administrator Jared Isaacman, NASA is pushing to completely decommission the aging ISS and replace it with private commercial space stations by the end of this decade.
Recall that NASA and partners planned to decommission the ISS in 2030, but Russia officially extended its commitment to support the station only until 2028.
