NASA orders ISS astronauts to prepare for evacuation as air leak worsens

Agency says Crew-12 astronauts sheltered in their Dragon spacecraft after the leak in Russia’s Zvezda module doubled; Roscosmos is working on repairs while evacuation remains a contingencyAstronauts aboard the International Space Station were ordered by NASA to shelter in their spacecraft and prepare for potential evacuation on Friday as a Russian crew attempts to fix a worsening air leak on its portion of the orbital laboratory, NASA said.The four astronauts of NASA's Crew-12 mission on the station — two U.S. astronauts, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut — got orders from NASA mission control at 9:04 a.m. ET Monday (1304 GMT) to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station and don their spacesuits in case the air leak warrants an emergency evacuation, a NASA official said.1 View gallery (Photo: NASA)NASA and Russia's space agency Roscosmos, the station's two primary operators, have debated for months over the cause and potential fixes of small air leaks aboard Russia's Zvezda service module, a key structure of the football field-sized laboratory.The air leaks have been relatively minor in recent months but escalated on Monday from a pound of air per day to two pounds, according to a senior NASA official who asked not to be named.Comments