Iss: repair work suspended, astronauts return to routine operations

Nasa has ordered astronauts to 'return to planned operations' on the ISS after an air leak from an International Space Station module caused alarm. On X, Nasa press secretary Bethany Stevens wrote that "Roscosmos (the Russian space agency, ndr) suspended structural repair work on Friday inside the transfer tunnel of the Zvezda service module, known as PrK, while further measurements and data are evaluated. In light of this development, NASA has instructed crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end 'safe haven' (ndr) procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station. We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a joint approach to resolving the casualties'. Four of the astronauts who were ordered to prepare for a possible evacuation are part of Nasa's SpaceX Crew-12 mission, while American Chris Williams has been on the ISS for 190 days along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, according to the real-time tracking system issinfo.net. The members of the Nasa and SpaceX Crew-12 mission are Americans Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, French astronaut Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They have been in orbit since February.

Previously, 'as an extreme precaution, NASA' had ordered 'all four SpaceX Crew-12 crew members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams to assume an elevated safety position inside the Dragon shuttle during repairs', Bethany Stevens had also announced.

"The transfer tunnel of the Zvezda service module, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time," the Nasa spokesman added. The Russian space agency Roscosmos "has so far been committed to mitigating the problem as much as possible". "Cracks have always been a concern that Nasa monitors very closely." The two space agencies "have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks", but now "following new leaks, Roscosmos has decided to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday 5 June". Hence the decision to transfer the American crew to the Dragon shuttle as a precautionary measure.

"We continue to work with our Russian counterparts, along with the rest of the international community supporting the space station, to arrive at a more permanent solution," the NASA spokesman said.

Last January, NASA claimed that, after numerous inspections and applications of sealant, the pressure inside the module had reached a 'stable configuration', causing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. The problem, however, reoccurred three weeks ago. On 1 May, after the cosmonauts had unloaded cargo from the Progress 95 cargo shuttle, a 'slow drop in pressure' was detected in the PrK module, which is essentially a transfer tunnel connected to the Zvezda service module on the Russian segment of the space station.