Astronauts Shelter in Place Amid Ongoing ISS Air Leak

Update: 11:20 a.m. ET Friday, June 5: NASA has officially lifted the shelter-in-place directive for its personnel onboard the International Space Station just before 11 a.m. ET on Friday.

NASA has rescinded the shelter-in-place order for its astronauts aboard the International Space Station as Russian crew members work to address an escalating leak on their side of the station, according to agency announcements made on Friday.

The four Crew 12 astronauts—NASA’s Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, the European Space Agency’s Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—along with NASA astronaut Chris Williams received instructions from mission control at 9:04 a.m. ET to put on their spacesuits and enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft, as reported by a NASA official to Reuters.

This precautionary measure would have facilitated a swift departure from the space station if the leak necessitated an emergency evacuation. shortly before 11 a.m. ET, NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens announced that the crew members in the Dragon spacecraft were instructed to terminate their safe haven procedures and resume normal operations. Roscosmos has temporarily halted structural repair work to collect additional measurements and analyze data regarding the leak.

Roscosmos has paused Friday’s structural repair efforts inside the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, as more measurements and data are being evaluated. Given this development, NASA has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven…

— Bethany Stevens (@NASASpox) June 5, 2026

The Russian segment of the ISS, known as the Zvezda service module, has experienced ongoing issues with cracks and leaks. NASA and Roscosmos have dedicated years to identifying the source of a specific leak and executing repairs. Last year, a new pressure signal from a section of the Zvezda module indicated that they had made progress. Unfortunately, the leak reemerged in May.

It remains uncertain if this leak is related to the situation that prompted NASA’s ISS astronauts to shelter in place today. A senior NASA official informed Reuters that on Monday, the rate of air escaping from the Russian module increased from one pound of air per day to two pounds.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.