Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) returned to normal operations after temporarily sheltering inside a docked spacecraft when an ongoing air leak worsened during repair efforts.
On Friday, five of the station’s seven crew members were instructed to move into the docked SpaceX Dragon capsule, Freedom, and prepare for a possible emergency evacuation. The precaution came as engineers monitored an increase in air leakage from a section of the Russian segment of the ISS.
At the same time, two Russian cosmonauts remained on board the station to carry out repair work on the affected area.
The five astronauts who took shelter were Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, Andrey Fedyaev, and Chris Williams. They were directed to wear their spacesuits and remain ready to undock and return to Earth if the situation worsened.
The Dragon capsule serves as an emergency escape vehicle for astronauts, remaining attached to the station while being capable of departing at short notice.
The concern centered on a transfer tunnel known as PrK, which connects to the Russian Zvezda service module. According to reports, the leak had been increasing since Monday.
Russian cosmonauts and station crew members Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev were tasked with repairing the damaged section. Their emergency escape option was the separately docked Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft.
Air leaks in this area are not new. Cracks linked to the issue have been monitored intermittently for about six years. However, after the arrival of a Russian cargo spacecraft last month, Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, detected a new pressure drop in the tunnel and decided to carry out a more extensive repair operation.
Reports indicated that the repair involved using a saw to gain access to the area where the leak was believed to be located. NASA reportedly raised concerns about the procedure and instructed the five astronauts to move into the Dragon spacecraft as a safety precaution.
The situation later eased when Roscosmos directed its crew to suspend the repair work. Following that decision, NASA informed the astronauts that they could leave the Dragon capsule and return to regular duties aboard the ISS.
NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens confirmed the development, stating that the safe-haven procedures had been ended and normal station operations resumed.
Roscosmos also reassured the public that neither the crew nor the station’s systems were ever in immediate danger.
The International Space Station, roughly the size of a football field, is the largest human-made structure in space. Since 1998, it has been continuously operated through a partnership led by the United States and Russia, with participation from Canada, Japan, and several European nations.
