Astronauts return to international space station after air leak repair

A worsening air leak on the International Space Station has prompted NASA to order five astronauts aboard to temporarily take shelter in a SpaceX Dragon capsule during repairs.

NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens says via X all four of the agency's SpaceX Crew-12 members - including Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, and Andrey Fedyaev - as well as NASA astronaut Chris Williams have been directed to "assume an elevated safety posture." Stevens says the decision is made "out of an abundance of caution."

The astronauts evacuate and take shelter in Crew-12's Dragon capsule "Freedom" that is docked at the station for roughly two hours.

Persistent cracks and leaks were reported at a part of the station on the Russian Zvezda service module of the orbiting laboratory where astronauts live and work in space.

Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, the other primary operator of the space station, manages through "operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts" as the issues have been relatively minor in recent months.

However, the air leaks sprung up again on Friday from a pound of air per day to two pounds, according to a NASA official. After a more extensive repair, Roscosmos declares its experts detected two leaks aboard the ISS but rules out immediate threat to the crew.

The first leak was immediately sealed and preparations are underway to seal the second one.

Given this development, NASA says it has instructed astronauts to end the safe haven procedures and return to the planned operations aboard the station as the agency and its Russian counterparts examine the rate of leaking air.