in News
The International Space Station as seen in October 2018.(Image credit: NASA)Share this article 0Join the conversationFollow usAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleSubscribe to our newsletter
An urgent evacuation warning issued to NASA astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) has been rescinded after swift repairs were made to air leaks within the Russian segment of the orbital outpost.
The four astronauts comprising NASA’s Crew-12 mission to the ISS—U.S. astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, French astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—were instructed to don their spacesuits and seek refuge within their docked Crew Dragon spacecraft on Friday (June 5). This directive was given while two members of the station’s Russian crew worked to fix structural faults that were causing air to escape the station.
“Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens communicated via X on Friday as the situation unfolded. “Out of an abundance of caution, NASA has directed all four of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-12 members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams to assume an elevated safety posture in the Dragon spacecraft while the repair is underway.” (Williams, a NASA astronaut, had arrived at the ISS as part of Russia’s Soyuz ms-28 mission and would have needed to evacuate alongside the Russian cosmonauts had the emergency persisted.)
After the initial attempts by the Russian crew members to seal the leaks, one of which proved successful, Roscosmos declared a halt to its structural repair activities “as more measurements and data is assessed,” Stevens added in a subsequent post on X. “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.”
A persistent problem
The site of the leaks is the PrK module, a connecting tunnel that links the Russian Zvezda Service Module to a docking port utilized by Progress, a vehicle employed for transporting Roscosmos cargo.
Air leaks attributed to micro-cracks in this module have presented an ongoing challenge for both NASA and Roscosmos since 2019. These issues necessitate continuous monitoring and the keeping of the hatch leading to the Zvezda module closed, except when the station is receiving supplies.
- Russian rocket en route to ISS experiences significant antenna malfunction, prompting remote-control astronaut ‘contingency plan’
- NASA expresses concern over potential ‘catastrophic failure’ on leaking ISS, but Russia shows reluctance to address it
- —ISS successfully evades its 39th piece of potentially hazardous space debris. Experts anticipate further close calls.
Despite numerous endeavors to seal these leaks, they have continued to be a problem. Furthermore, while publicly downplaying their seriousness, NASA regards the leaks originating from the Roscosmos module as posing both a high probability and significant risk, with the potential for “catastrophic failure,” as reported by Ars Technica.
Although the immediate danger from the escalating leaks seems to have been averted for the moment, this incident is likely to further complicate strategies for extending the operational life of the ISS. The station was initially slated for decommissioning by the end of 2030, at which point it would be guided through Earth’s atmosphere to disintegrate over the Pacific Ocean.
However, NASA and the U.S. Congress are exploring options to prolong the station’s service life until at least 2032, providing a window for controversial private space stations to become operational. Russia, meanwhile, has consistently indicated a desire to withdraw from the ISS at the earliest opportunity.
TOPICS
Sourse: www.livescience.com
