NASA briefly had five astronauts aboard the International Space Station shelter in a docked SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on Friday, while their Russian counterparts attempted to repair a leaking service module.
NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens initially wrote in an X post on Friday that Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, had discovered new leaks in its service module, and decided to perform an “extensive repair operation.”
“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,” she wrote. “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.”
Roughly one hour after that statement, though, Stevens published another post that said Roscosmos paused their repair efforts to assess “more measurements and data.”
“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.”
The Russian service module has been dealing with leaks for some time now. Stevens wrote on Friday that the cracks “have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
There are currently 10 people aboard the ISS. Four of them (two NASA astronauts, one European Space Agency astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut) arrived at the station in February as part of the long-duration SpaceX Crew-12 Dragon mission. The other three (one NASA astronaut and two other cosmonauts) arrived last November aboard a Russian Soyuz mission.
The repair operation and temporary shelter order come as the future of the International Space Station is in question. Under the leadership of its new administrator, Jared Isaacman, NASA is pushing to replace the aging space station with commercially produced modules later this decade.
This story has been updated to reflect that the shelter has ended.
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