Daily air loss doubled to nearly one kilogram, prompting NASA astronauts to take shelter in SpaceX capsule as a precaution
NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been ordered to take shelter in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and prepare for an emergency evacuation. The measure was taken after the worsening of an air leak in the Russian section of the station, which raised the alert for the safety of the entire crew in orbit.
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According to The Guardian and Reuters, the loss of air is caused by cracks in a deteriorated part of the structure. The ISS had been losing about half a kilogram of air per day; Recently, the volume has doubled, reaching almost one kilogram.
The critical point is in a service tunnel that connects the Russian Zvezda module to a docking module. The exact cause of the cracks has not yet been confirmed by space agencies. The leaks, however, are nothing new: the aging of the Russian section has worried NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian agency, for years. The station, in orbit since 2000, is expected to be retired around 2030.
To prevent the real risk of asphyxiation, the crew of NASA’s most recent mission had to take shelter in SpaceX’s own spacecraft — their only escape route — ready to undock and leave the orbital complex at any moment.
The situation was brought under control because the damaged tunnel can be isolated from the rest of the ISS by airtight doors when not in use. While the Americans remained in the capsule, Russian cosmonauts worked on diagnosing and repairing the cracks. The crew was allowed to resume normal operations once maintenance was over and the tunnel was closed and isolated again. It is still unclear, however, whether repairs have located the exact source of the leak.
