Two new air leaks erupted inside the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module on Friday morning, forcing NASA to order all four Crew-12 astronauts into their docked Crew Dragon and suit up for a possible emergency evacuation.
The shelter-in-place order came at 9:04 a.m. ET, the latest, and most acute, flare-up in a months-long standoff between NASA and Roscosmos over a module neither agency has managed to fix.
The leaks surfaced when Roscosmos pressurized the transition chamber compartment of Zvezda during structural repair work. Technicians moved on both in sequence. The first was sealed with a sealant compound. The second, on the conical section of that same compartment, required additional preparation before a fix could begin.
While work on the second leak was still underway, Roscosmos pushed out a statement. “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.”
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NASA took that assurance and lifted the directive.
“Given this development, NASA has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station,” spokesperson Bethany Stevens said.
Inside that capsule during the tense morning hours were commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev, and ESA astronaut Sophia Adenot of France. The four had arrived at the station for Crew-12 and found part of their Friday consumed by emergency drills made suddenly real.
Zvezda is a load-bearing piece of the football field-sized station and has been leaking, on and off, for months. NASA and Roscosmos have traded disagreements over the root cause and the right fix. Friday’s episode did not settle either question.
Stevens noted that the agencies are continuing to work with Russian counterparts “and the rest of the international community that supports the space station, to arrive at a more permanent resolution.”
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