A pesky air leak on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) simply received’t give up. Though the crew hoped that they had sealed the final crack on the Russian module, long-term observations revealed that the ISS remains to be leaking air. Throughout a latest press convention, a Roscosmos official instructed reporters that latest makes an attempt to repair the leak have slowed down the speed of air leaving the area station however that it’s not but utterly sealed. “The leak is ongoing,” Russian information company TASS reported. “We proceed our efforts to search out and repair it, with the latest repairs having severely lowered the speed of air leakage,” Sergey Krikalyov, the manager director of manned area applications at Roscosmos, instructed reporters on Wednesday. “For a while we even thought that we had discovered the final crack and sealed it, although long-term observations have proven that it continues.” Roscosmos first reported the leak in September 2019, tracing it to the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which the area company had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. Over the previous six years, the speed at which the air is leaking doubled from one pound a day to slightly over two kilos a day, in accordance with a report launched in 2024. That led NASA to raise the leak to the best stage of threat. On the time, it was reported that NASA and Roscosmos couldn’t agree on the foundation reason for the leak or a method to repair it. Later in June, issues appeared a bit extra promising. NASA postponed the launch of the non-public Axiom 4 mission to the ISS, which was initially scheduled for June 11, citing a brand new strain sign within the Zvezda module. NASA defined that the strain sign, or a change in airflow or cabin strain picked up by sensors, could also be an indication that the leaks have been sealed following latest makes an attempt to restore it.
Because it seems, that is one powerful leak to seal. Roscosmos, nevertheless, is just not giving up. “It will be significant for all of us to ensure that such conditions don’t come up at future stations,” Krikalyov stated. If crucial, the area companies might conform to completely shut off the hatch to the Russian module. With out entry to Zvezda, the ISS would function usually besides there could be one much less docking port for spacecraft delivering cargo to the crew.
