NASA gives astronauts on International Space Station evacuation orders

Life aboard the International Space Station is carefully planned down to the minute, but sometimes events unfold that nobody can ignore, like emergency evacuation orders from NASA.

That’s exactly what happened on June 5 when NASA issued evacuation orders to astronauts living hundreds of miles above Earth.

The alert wasn’t caused by a collision, a fire, or a failed launch.

Instead, the danger came from a problem that has been quietly causing anxiety to engineers for months.

Leak on the International Space Station

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were instructed to take shelter inside their docked spacecraft and prepare for a possible evacuation after a worsening air leak was detected in the station’s Russian segment.

The leak is located in the Russian-built Zvezda service module, an area that has experienced air leak issues in the past.

NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos have spent months investigating the source of the problem and discussing potential fixes.

The situation became more serious when the amount of air escaping from the station reportedly doubled, prompting mission control to move astronauts into a higher state of readiness.

As a precaution, the four members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission were ordered into their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and told to put on their spacesuits while engineers assessed the risk.

Why the crew were told to prepare for evacuation

The astronauts were not immediately told to leave the station, but the evacuation procedures were activated in case the leak continued to worsen or repairs failed.

Crew Dragon spacecraft remain attached to the station specifically for situations like this, giving astronauts a way to quickly return to Earth if conditions become unsafe.

Russian crew members are working to repair the leak while NASA and Roscosmos monitors the station’s atmosphere and pressure levels.

The International Space Station has experienced emergency shelter procedures before, including incidents involving space debris, but a possible evacuation caused by a worsening air leak is an unusually serious development.

NASA release statement

NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens has said on the matter: “The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date.

“The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts.

“Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5.

“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.

“We continue to work with our Russian counterparts, along with the rest of the international community that supports the space station, to arrive at a more permanent resolution.”