Shortly afterwards, NASA gave the green light and the astronauts were able to return to their posts.
A NASA spokesman told AFP that cosmonauts from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, had taken measurements of the leaks and were evaluating the data.
“With today’s operations, they wanted to be extremely cautious, take additional precautionary measures and have the crew follow the safe shelter procedure,” the spokesperson said.
Later, NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens reported on social media that the agency had instructed crew members on the Dragon spacecraft “to terminate safe shelter procedures and return to scheduled operations aboard the ISS.”
In a statement cited by Russian state media, Roscosmos reported that, during the pressurization of the transfer tunnel known as PrK, a leak was detected.
“During an inspection of the PrK, the cosmonauts discovered two possible air leak points. The first was sealed immediately by applying the first layer of the two-component sealant Germetall-1. The second point is located in the conical part of the PrK. Preparatory work for its sealing is underway,” the agency reported.
Stevens had previously explained on Network
“NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the cause of the cracks,” he added.
NASA and Roscosmos are two of the main operators of the ISS, a space laboratory that orbits around 400 kilometers from Earth, where astronauts from different countries live and work for months.
Permanently inhabited since 2000, the ISS is already approaching the end of its useful life, with closure scheduled for 2030.
The size of a football field, the station is one of the few areas where cooperation between Western countries and Russia has continued since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
