The operational normality of the International Space Station has been seen seriously altered this Friday after a direct order issued by NASA control center. At 9:04 a.m., the four members of the Crew-12 mission (two American astronauts, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut) received the imperative instruction to move towards the Crew Dragon shipdocked to the orbital laboratory, and put on their spacesuits. This guideline responds to a precautionary measure against imminent risk that the current air leak force an emergency evacuation, a possibility that the US authorities have not wanted to rule out given the circumstances.
The severity of the technical failure in the Zvezda module
He origin of the incidence has been specifically located in the Zvezda service module transfer tunneltechnically known as PrK. According to the data provided by the agency, the problem is not new, but it has shown a disturbing evolution in the last few days. While in previous months air losses had remained at levels considered relatively minor, the situation has undergone a drastic change. A senior NASA official, who preferred to remain anonymous when reporting, has confirmed that the leak flow increased last Monday from one pound of air per day to two pounds, thus doubling the gravity of the breakdown.
The The crew of the Crew-12 mission returned to their routine activities this Friday inside the International Space Station, after completing the security protocol that forced the four astronauts to take temporary refuge in their ship due to the instability of a leak detected in the Russian module Zvezda. The order issued by the NASA control center, which asked the two American astronauts, the French member and the Russian cosmonaut to put on their spacesuits due to the possibility of an emergency evacuation, has been lifted after confirming that the conditions within the orbital complex allow the continuity of operations under a strict surveillance regime.
A persistent problem in orbital infrastructure
The NASA Communications ManagerBethany Stevens, has shed light on the history of this technical incident minutes after the shelter order emerged. Stevens has recognized that the structure of the aforementioned tunnel has persistent cracks and leaks “for some time“These deficiencies, which were addressed and mitigated at the time by Roscosmos (the Russian space agency), are now once again at the center of the station’s operational concerns.
“Cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches closely“, declared Stevens regarding a problem that, despite attempts at repair, seems to resist a definitive solution. The spokesperson emphasized that both the US agency and its Russian counterpart maintain a constant collaboration to accurately diagnose the origin of the failure.