NASA orders astronauts to prepare for evacuation due to air leak in space station

NASA briefly placed astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on evacuation alert after concerns grew over worsening air leaks in a Russian-built module, before later confirming a return to normal operations.

According to reports, NASA instructed crew members to take precautionary steps, including sheltering inside their Crew Dragon spacecraft and preparing for a potential emergency evacuation.

The Crew-12 mission team on board the ISS includes two U.S. astronauts, a French astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut. At around 9:04 a.m., Mission Control reportedly advised them to enter a “safe haven” posture and be ready to don spacesuits if conditions worsened.

A NASA official noted that the move was precautionary as engineers monitored air leaks coming from the Russian Zvezda service module, an area that has experienced ongoing issues since 2019.

The Zvezda module contains a pressurised transfer tunnel that connects key sections of the Russian segment of the station. While the module itself arrived in orbit in 2000, some components date back to earlier decades, contributing to long-standing structural concerns.

NASA confirmed that the leak had been releasing air into space for years, with recent measurements indicating an increase in the rate of air loss, raising safety concerns among mission controllers.

At one point, astronauts were advised to remain in their Crew Dragon spacecraft as a precaution, while Russian space agency Roscosmos attempted repair operations inside the affected module.

However, NASA later confirmed that the crew had been cleared to resume normal activities after Roscosmos paused repair efforts to collect additional data.

NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said in a statement that repair work had been temporarily halted:

“Roscosmos has paused Friday’s structural repair efforts inside the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, as more measurements and data is assessed.

“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.”

Officials have described the leak as one of the more serious technical challenges currently affecting the station, though both agencies continue to monitor the situation closely.

Despite concerns, no immediate danger to the crew was reported following the latest assessment, and normal ISS operations have resumed.