Astronauts on board the International Space Station have been told to prepare for an emergency evacuation because of air leaks.Nasa astronauts have been told to shelter in their spacecraft and get ready to leave the floating laboratory as their Russian counterparts try and fix a worsening air leak on their side, the space agency said.The four astronauts on Nasa’s side of the space station were told on Monday morning local US time that they should enter the spacecraft docked to the station, and put on their spacesuits in case they are forced to leave, the space agency said.At the same time, their Russian colleagues are attempting to fix a part of a service module transfer tunnel that is letting safe air out into space, Nasa said. The cracks that are causing the leak have long been a concern but Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has been working to patch them.Follow below for the latest on the problem and astronauts’ attempts to fix it.Air leaks have increased recentlyWhile the leaks have been a concern for a while, they escalated on Monday from a pound of air per day to two pounds, Reuters reports, citing an unnamed senior Nasa official.Andrew Griffin5 June 2026 15:30Space Station is ageing – and seeing increased problemsThe International Space Station was first launched in 1998, and designed to last for 15 years. It has gone on for much longer than that – but is now seeing the wear and tear of nearly three decades in space.It is in theory approaching the end of its life: the current schedule indicates that it is due to be retired in 2030. At that point, parts of it will be taken for use in new space stations and it will then be intentionally flown into Earth, to be destroyed.As that retirement date has approached, however, the effects of its long service have become more clear. Chief among them are its air leaks, which have been a problem for years – including the one that Russian astronauts are now attempting to fix.The Russian space agency has tried to hold off the problem by keeping the hatch to the service module closed, which it hoped would be enough of a resolution to keep the space station in service until 2030.But, recently, the Americans have suggested that they would like to keep the ISS in operation for at least two more years. That has led to increased questions over whether the ageing space station is safe to keep around for that long – and new worries that it is not.Andrew Griffin5 June 2026 15:27Leaks have been ongoing for six years – but have recently got worseNasa and Roscosmos have been monitoring an apparent air leak on the space station for about six years. There have been repeated attempts to fix it, which have stemmed the problem but not resolved it.Doing so is difficult because it is hard to find the cracks in the segment that have led to the problems.In January, however, Nasa said that the pressure inside the module had reached a “stable configuration”. That appeared to suggest the problem was at least reduced.But, last month, Nasa said that the problem had come back. New issues were spotted on 1 May, after Russian cosmonauts took cargo out of a spacecraft that docked at the ISS.“Teams performed data analysis, which indicated a loss of about one pound per day,” NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars Technica in late May. “Roscosmos allowed the pressure in the transfer tunnel to gradually decrease while monitoring the rate.“The area now is being maintained at a lower pressure, with small repressurizations as needed. There are no impacts to station operations, and NASA and Roscosmos are coordinating on next steps.”Andrew Griffin5 June 2026 15:21Cracks have 'always been a concern', Nasa spokesperson saysHere’s the full statement from Nasa spokesperson Bethany Stevens, which was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. She says that the cracks in the space station have “always been a concern” and that the Russian space agency is launching a “more extensive repair operation”.“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,” she wrote. “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.”Andrew Griffin5 June 2026 15:15Hello and welcome...... to The Independent’s live coverage of urgent attempts to fix a leak on the International Space Station, which has forced Nasa to advise its astronauts to prepare for an emergency evacuation.Andrew Griffin5 June 2026 15:13