Leak on the ISS: while the Russians were solving the problem, the Americans were preparing for evacuation

NASA has ordered astronauts aboard the International Space Station to take shelter in their ships and prepare for possible evacuation amid worsening air leaks in the Russian segment of the station, Reuters writes.

According to the agency, four members of the Crew-12 mission were instructed to transfer to the docked Crew Dragon ship and put on spacesuits in case of an emergency.

The dispute between NASA and Roscosmos about the causes and ways to eliminate leaks in the Russian Zvezda module has been going on for several months. Previously, air losses were considered insignificant, but at the beginning of the week the volume of leakage increased by about half.

While the Russians were solving the problem, the Americans were preparing for evacuation, commenting on the situation. "Газета.ги ". In the Russian module on The International Space Station has again experienced an air leak. Roscosmos reported the discovery of two leakages in the transition chamber of the Zvezda module: one has already been sealed, the second is being prepared to be sealed. While the Russian cosmonauts fixed the problem, NASA astronauts were ordered to put on spacesuits and transferred to the Crew Dragon ship for possible evacuation. Later they returned to the station. Problems with leaks in this module have been going on since 2020.

The air leak in the module of the Zvezda International Space Station does not threaten the safety of the crew, the pressure on board is stable and maintained at the calculated level. According to Interfax, this was announced by Roscosmos after reports that NASA ordered the Crew-12 mission members to return to the ship and put on spacesuits in case of pressure drop.

"The situation does not threaten the safety of the crew and onboard systems, the pressure on board the ISS is stable and maintained at the calculated level," the state corporation said in a statement.

Roscosmos reported that the cosmonauts found two potential air leak sites on the Russian segment of the ISS during an inspection of the Zvezda module transition chamber.

The first has already been sealed by applying the first layer of a two-component hermetic compound "Hermetic-1". The second leak site was found on the conical part of the chamber, and the crew is preparing to seal it, the corporation said.