NASA orders ISS astronauts to shelter in SpaceX Dragon amid Russian module leaks

NASA has directed five astronauts aboard the International Space Station to shelter in a docked SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft following the discovery of new leaks in the Russian service module. The directive, issued out of caution, affects the four members of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission and NASA astronaut Chris Williams.

NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens confirmed the order via an X post on Friday, stating that Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, had identified the leaks and decided to perform an extensive repair operation. Stevens noted that the cracks in the Russian module have long been a concern for NASA, which monitors the situation closely.

The shelter-in-place measure requires the affected crew to assume an elevated safety posture within the Dragon capsule while repairs are underway. It remains unclear how long the astronauts will need to remain in the spacecraft, and neither NASA nor SpaceX immediately responded to requests for further comment regarding the timeline.

The International Space Station currently hosts ten people. In addition to the five astronauts sheltering in the Dragon, the station includes three crew members who arrived in November via a Russian Soyuz mission and two additional Crew-12 members who are not part of the shelter directive. The four Crew-12 members arrived in February, comprising two NASA astronauts, one European Space Agency astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut.

The incident occurs against the backdrop of NASA’s strategic shift away from the International Space Station. Under the leadership of Administrator Jared Isaacman, the agency is pushing to replace the aging facility with commercially produced modules later this decade. Stevens indicated that NASA continues to work with its Russian counterparts and the broader international community to arrive at a more permanent resolution for the module issues.