NASA has told astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) to prep for possible evacuation . Air leaks need urgent fixes by Russian crew . order, issued Friday,impacts four astronauts from NASA’s Crew-12 mission: two Americans, a French astronaut,and Russian.
Zvezda service module tunnel,part of Russian segment of ISS,has had cracks and leaks for some time. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, will start more extensive repairs on Friday, June 5 .
NASA's been watching leaks closely,trying mitigation before . But new leaks pushed the agency to act. “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 Dragon spacecraft while the repair is underway,” Stevens noted.
ISS,operational since 1998,involves five international space agencies, including Europe,Japan,and Canada. But NASA and Roscosmos manage daily work . As of Friday,seven astronauts stay aboard,still doing scientific work while repairs happen. How long can they hold out…?
