Astronauts sheltered on board a docked SpaceX Crew Dragon for a short time as cracks got worse on the International Space Station on Friday, but were allowed to go about business as usual as repair plans were put on hold, according to NASA.
Russian space agency Roscosmos has opted to try to repair to the worsening leaks on its Zvezda service module tunnel, which “has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date,” read an update from NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens. “The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, NASA has directed all four of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-12 members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams to assume an elevated safety posture in the Dragon spacecraft while the repair is underway,” she wrote.
The two agencies have been trying to determine the root cause of the cracks and so far Roscosmos has managed it with “operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts,” Stevens said.
“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,” she wrote.
An update before 11 a.m. stated Roscosmos had paused the structural repair efforts “as more measurements and data is assessed. Given this development, NASA has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station. We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks,” Stevens wrote.
The Crew Dragon Freedom launched from Cape Canaveral in February to bring the four members of Crew-12 for their months-long mission on board. The four crew were NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
Williams flew to the station with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayevon a Soyuz spacecraft last November.
Kud-Sverchkov and Mikayev will perform the repairs while the five others on board the station remain sheltered within the Dragon spacecraft docked to the American half of the station.