Five astronauts aboard the International Space Station sheltered in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on June 5 after NASA ordered them to prepare for possible evacuation as an air leak in the station’s Russian segment worsened, but the agency reversed the directive roughly two hours later and allowed the crew to return to normal operations.
NASA mission control issued the shelter-in-place order at 9:04 a.m. ET on Friday, directing the four astronauts of NASA’s Crew-12 mission—two Americans, a French astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut—along with another U.S. astronaut to board the docked Dragon capsule, according to NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens. The air leak, located in Russia’s Zvezda service module, had escalated from approximately one pound of air per day to two pounds, heightening concern among mission controllers.
Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, detected two separate leaks and sealed one quickly, saying there was no immediate threat to the crew. However, disagreement over repair methods between NASA and Roscosmos prompted the safe-haven order. Russian cosmonauts planned to use a saw to reach an area where they believed they could access the crack, a method NASA officials opposed, leading mission control in Houston to activate evacuation procedures.
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Stevens said NASA reversed the safe-haven order once Roscosmos paused its repair efforts, allowing astronauts to return to the station. “We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks,” she said. Safe-haven orders are rare on the ISS, though space debris risks and air leak rate changes have triggered the process in recent years. Astronauts have never evacuated the ISS in its 27-year operational history.
Sources
- Reuters — Detailed account of the shelter-in-place order, reversal, timeline (9:04 a.m. ET), crew composition, leak rate escalation (1 to 2 pounds per day), repair disagreement, and Roscosmos detection of two leaks.
- NBC News — Confirmation of the roughly two-hour duration of the shelter order and NASA’s reversal.
- The Guardian — Verification that repairs were paused and crew returned to normal duties.
