ISS air leak triggers alarm

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Reuters June 06, 2026 Less than a minute read

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, are seen as they arrive at the Launch Pad 39B, Friday, March 20, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. PHOTO: NASA

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WASHINGTON:

A worsening air leak aboard the International Space Station prompted five astronauts to take shelter and prepare for evacuation for roughly two hours on Friday as Russia attempted to fix a crack on its portion of the orbital laboratory, NASA said.

The four astronauts of NASA's Crew-12 mission aboard the station - two Americans, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut - along with another U.S. astronaut were ordered by NASA mission control at 9:04 a.m. ET (1304 GMT) on Friday to enter their SpaceX-built Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said.

NASA reversed that order roughly two hours later and told the astronauts they could return to the station as the agency and its Russian counterparts examined the rate of leaking air.