NASA places ISS astronauts on evacuation alert as air leak worsens

NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. © Steve Nesius, Reuters

NASA ordered astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to shelter in their spacecraft and prepare for a possible evacuation on Friday after an air leak in the Russian module of the orbiting laboratory worsened, raising fresh concerns over a long-running technical problem.

A worsening air leak aboard the International Space Station prompted five astronauts to take shelter and prepare for ​evacuation for ‌roughly two hours on Friday as Russia attempted to fix a crack on its portion of the ⁠orbital laboratory, NASA said.