ISS crew directed to shelter aboard Dragon amid worsening air leak
On Friday afternoon NASA ordered five of the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to relocate to the docked SpaceX Dragon spacecraft “Freedom” after a sudden increase in air loss from the Russian segment.
NASA told the crew to suit up and be ready to undock at short notice, treating the Dragon as a defensive “lifeboat.” The order followed an earlier decision by the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, to pause a repair attempt after crew members used a saw to access a crack in the PrK transfer tunnel leading to the Zvezda service module.
Kud‑Sverchkov and Mikayev, the station commander and flight engineer, had been trying to patch the leak with what NASA regarded as an unsafe method. When Roscosmos halted the repairs, NASA reversed its earlier directive and asked the five astronauts to return to planned operations aboard the ISS.
NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens explained on X: “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.”
The ISS, which covers the length of a football field, is the largest human‑made object in orbit and has been operated since 1998 by a consortium led by the United States and Russia, joined by Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.
