The dreaded air leak on the International Space Station (ISS) has gotten so bad that Russian cosmonauts were preparing to use a saw to access a suspected leak area in the Zvezda module’s transfer tunnel. NASA released an update on the long-running leak from the Russian segment of the space station, revealing details of the plan that prompted five crew members to shelter in place on Friday, June 5. According to NASA, Roscosmos had come up with a plan that involved cutting a bracket to better access an area that may have been contributing to the leak. This new strategy “could have resulted in elevated risk to the structure in the area,” NASA wrote. The Russian space agency put its plan on hold for now to gather more data and further inspect the suspected areas. The only way out is through Roscosmos first reported a leak on board the ISS in September 2019, tracing it to the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module. For nearly seven years, the leak has not only persisted but has also grown more severe. Last week, the Russian space agency identified new suspected leak areas in PrK and noted an increase of the previous leak rate from a pound of air per day to two pounds. In response, Roscosmos put together a more aggressive strategy to tackle the growing air leak.