NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station were temporarily ordered to take shelter on a spacecraft docked at the outpost as repairs were made to air leaks on the Russian segment.
The decision, which a spokeswoman for the U.S. space agency said was made “out of an abundance of caution,” came as the aging ISS has suffered from a series of cracks in recent years. The Zvezda service module, Russia’s first contribution to the station, has long been the area hardest hit with the leaks.
While piecemeal efforts have been made to patch up the holes, the three Russian cosmonauts on board were due to undertake a “more extensive repair operation” Friday, June 5, Bethany Stevens, a NASA spokeswoman, said in a post on social media site X.
But the directive didn’t last long. Shortly after the announcement, Stevens indicated that the “safe haven” procedure had ended and the astronauts permitted to resume normal operations after the repair operations were paused.
Here’s what we know so far.
After new leaks were discovered on the transfer tunnel of the Zvezda service module – known as PrK – cosmonauts with Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, began a larger effort to repair the recurring problem aboard the space station, Stevens said.
For that reason, NASA directed all three Americans and one French astronaut with the European Space Agency aboard the orbital laboratory to “assume an elevated safety posture.” That means those four astronauts took shelter in the single SpaceX Dragon crew capsule docked to the Harmony Module, which contains some sleeping quarters and connects the laboratories of the ISS.
The astronauts were given the all-clear to reenter the space station shortly after repair efforts were paused so that the Russian cosmonauts could take more measurements before beginning work, Stevens said in a follow-up post.
Seven astronauts who are part of Expedition 74 are living and working aboard the International Space Station.
That includes four people who are part of the Crew-12 mission that docked in mid-February: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, as well as the European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The Crew-12 contingent are due to depart in September following the arrival of Crew-13.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russians Sergey Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who arrived at the end of November on a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, will also be at the orbital laboratory until their replacements arrive in July.
The International Space Station has been stationed in low-Earth orbit for more than 25 years, typically about 260 miles high, where it has been home to astronauts from all over the world. Throughout its lifespan, the station has served as a test bed for scientific research in microgravity and has in years past opened itself up to private commercial missions.
The orbital laboratory is operated through a global partnership of space agencies, including NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
More than 290 spacefarers from 26 countries have visited the International Space Station, including 170 from the United States alone, according to NASA.
Air leak woes on the International Space Station are nothing new.
In fact, in June 2025, an air leak detected on the same Russian segment delayed the launch of a private astronaut mission to the ISS known as Axiom-4. The mission was able to launch later that month.
While the astronauts aboard the station do not appear to be in immediate danger, small cracks on the ISS in recent years, particularly on the aging Russian segment, have contributed to the decision to retire the station by 2030. In the past, leaks of air from the cracks have been minor and posed no immediate safety threats to the station’s astronauts, who patch them with tape, glue and other solutions.
In her post, Stevens said the “cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely” while working with Roscosmos on a remedy.
“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,” Stevens said.
This article has been updated to add new information.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
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