You are not logged in.
We had a topic that included the word "leak" but it is about hydrogen leaks.
This topic is offered for NewMars members who might wish to build a collection of knowledge about air leaks.
The ISS has been suffering a small but persistent air leak in the Soviet-era module that joints the Russian space station section to their docking module.
The article at the link in Post #3 describes a temporary safety maneuver by astronauts while Russian cosmonauts worked on the failing module.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
This post is reserved for an index to posts that may be contributed by NewMars members.
Index:
Post #3: Article about ISS and ongoing leak in Russian section
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
The article at the link below is about the ongoing link of air from a module in the Russian section of the ISS.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/arti … 26804.html
NASA astronauts aboard International Space Station ordered to shelter in Dragon spacecraft amid worsening air leaks
Five crew members were told to temporarily "assume an elevated safety posture" inside the craft while their Russian counterparts worked to repair them.
Dylan Stableford, Reporter
Updated Fri, June 5, 2026 at 12:05 PM EDTThe International Space Station has been in orbit for over 25 years.
(NASA via Getty Images)Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were ordered to temporarily shelter in place on Friday amid worsening air leaks on the floating space laboratory.
In a statement posted to X, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said that "out of an abundance of caution," all four members of NASA's Crew-12 mission — NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — and NASA astronaut Chris Williams were told to shelter in the Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station while members of Russia's space agency Roscosmos attempted to fix the leak.
About 90 minutes later, Stevens said that Roscosmos had "paused" its structural repair efforts, and NASA instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to "end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station."
According to Reuters, NASA and Roscosmos "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 had been "relatively minor in recent months but escalated Monday from a pound of air per day to two pounds," Reuters reported, citing an unnamed NASA official.
"The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely," Stevens said in her initial statement. "NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts."
Following the new leaks, Stevens said Roscosmos "elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation" on Friday, prompting NASA to have the astronauts take shelter aboard the Dragon spacecraft.
"We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks," the NASA spokesperson added.
The International Space Station was launched in 1998, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. Long-term human occupancy began in 2000, and astronauts have never had to evacuate the ISS in its 27-year history.
NASA's current ISS mission, Expedition 74, began on Dec. 8, and will end this summer.
(th)
Offline
Like button can go here
Here is what I posted under the ISS thread in "human missions"
From CBS News/Space:
Space
Space station crew briefly moves to "safe haven" amid new concerns over leak
By Miles Doran, Alex Sundby
Updated on: June 5, 2026 / 11:45 AM EDT / CBS News
Out of an abundance of caution, NASA on Friday briefly directed five of the seven crew members aboard the International Space Station to wait inside the docked SpaceX Crew Dragon "Freedom" spacecraft — known as a "safe haven" — amid new concerns over some cracks in a transfer tunnel in the Russian module.
NASA then told the crew members they were comfortable with backing out of the safe haven configuration and returning to normal operations after the Russian space agency Roscosmos paused repair efforts and decided to take measurements and assess data.
"We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks," NASA said in a statement.
The cracks have been the source of a small air leak that has persisted on and off for the last six years or so. The leak is considered a top safety risk. There have been several attempts over the years to repair the cracks.
"The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely," the agency said.
Friday's effort comes after Roscosmos noticed a slow pressure drop in the transfer tunnel last month following the arrival of a Russian cargo ship.
NASA said it and Roscosmos have been trying to determine the cause of the cracks while the Russian space agency addresses the issue through "operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts."
After new leaks appeared, NASA initially said Roscosmos decided to move forward with a more extensive repair operation Friday before the Russians decided only to perform measurements.
"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," NASA said.
----
my opinion: they bloody well know what the problem is, metal fatigue from thermal cycling day/night every 90 minutes. The tunnel wall was too thin to support such a long life while cycling. The cracks are "everywhere", but are very hard to see. And they keep lengthening, until something breaks apart.
The way you stop a fatigue crack from lengthening further is to find its very end, which is very, very hard to determine without the right kind of X-ray or other detection equipment, something very hard to do on a pressure vessel in space, because your source is on one side pf the shell, and the receiver must be on the other. Plus, in this case, the tunnel is buried inside the outer structure of the module. Then you drill a hole at that end of the crack, to relieve the stress created by the sharp corner at the end of the crack. Miss the end even slightly, and your repair fails. In vacuum, your hole makes the leak worse, until you can patch it with something, along with the length of the crack. Such cracks are rarely straight, by the way.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
Offline
Like button can go here