NASA on Friday instructed five of the seven astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station to move into the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Freedom” after concerns resurfaced over an air leak inside a Russian section of the station.
The precautionary move came as Russian crews continued repair efforts on cracks detected in a transfer tunnel connected to the station’s Zvezda service module.
NASA also asked astronauts to remain prepared for a possible emergency evacuation if the situation were to deteriorate further. According to reports, mission control issued instructions around 9:04 AM ET directing crew members to enter the docked spacecraft and wear their spacesuits while engineers assessed the severity of the leak.
NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said the issue involving the Zvezda module’s transfer tunnel, also known as PrK, has been monitored closely for a long time.
“The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date,” Stevens said in a social media post.
“The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial repair efforts,” she added.
The warning reportedly applied to four members of NASA’s current crew aboard the station, including two American astronauts, one French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut.
Later, mission control informed the crew that they could step back from the emergency “safe haven” configuration once Russian teams completed pressure and leak measurements on Friday, according to CBS News.
The issue surrounding the air leaks has been a growing concern for several years as cracks inside Russia’s Zvezda service module continued to pose safety questions for both NASA and Roscosmos.
The two agencies have reportedly been engaged in discussions for months over how to permanently address the small but persistent leaks inside the orbital laboratory.
The transfer tunnel where the leaks were detected is considered a small but critical section of the football field sized space station.
Roscosmos reportedly noticed a gradual pressure drop in the tunnel following the arrival of a Russian cargo spacecraft last month. Since then, both agencies have relied on temporary operational measures and repair attempts to control the issue.
Although the leak was described as relatively minor, Reuters cited an anonymous senior NASA official who said the amount of air escaping had doubled in recent months, increasing from roughly one pound of air per day to about two pounds daily.
NASA said it continues to work closely with Russian officials and other international partners supporting the ISS programme in hopes of finding a long term solution.
Roscosmos later confirmed that inspections identified two separate leaks inside the module. One of them has already been sealed, and the agency stated that there is currently no immediate danger to the crew aboard the station.
