The cause of cracks in the Zvezda module (bottom center) of the ISS remains under investigation. Credit: NASA
WASHINGTON — NASA instructed astronauts on the International Space Station to briefly shelter in a Dragon spacecraft June 5 as cosmonauts attempted to repair an air leak in a Russian module.
Shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern, NASA Mission Control in Houston instructed the four members of Crew-12, the Crew Dragon mission that has been at the station since February, to shelter in that spacecraft. Joining them was NASA astronaut Chris Williams, who flew to the ISS last November on a Soyuz spacecraft.
The move was prompted by a decision by Roscosmos to have cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev attempt to repair an air leak in a portion of the Zvezda service module known as PrK. That is a vestibule that links a docking port with the rest of the module and has had a long-running, but small, air leak.
That leak had reportedly increased in recent days, leading Roscosmos to pursue a repair effort NASA deemed risky enough to have others on the station shelter in the Crew Dragon.
