Astronauts Shelter as Russian Segment Faces Air Leak

Five astronauts aboard the International Space Station retreated into a docked Dragon spacecraft on Friday, following emergency orders from NASA to prepare for a potential evacuation. The precautionary measure came as Russian crew members attempted to locate and contain a persistent air leak within the station’s Russian-operated segment.

The evacuation order remained in effect for approximately two hours before ground controllers signaled the crew to resume normal operations. Those who took shelter included the four-person SpaceX Crew-12 team—commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, mission specialist Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—alongside NASA astronaut Chris Williams.

Meir, a veteran of two spaceflights, led the Dragon contingent, which included Hathaway, a U.S. Navy commander on his maiden voyage, and Adenot, an ESA engineer and former pilot. Fedyaev, an experienced cosmonaut with a previous 186-day mission on his record, joined them in the capsule. Meanwhile, the station's Expedition 74 crew—commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, flight engineer Sergei Mikaev, and Williams—continued their mission, which officially began on December 8 and is scheduled to run through the summer.