Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) were advised to seek shelter and prepare for a possible evacuation as air leaks escalated within the Russian section of the renowned space research facility.

Five astronauts, including three Americans, one French national, and a Russian cosmonaut, were directed by NASA mission control to enter the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was docked at the ISS, on Friday afternoon.

Instances of shelter orders are uncommon, and a complete evacuation of the space station has never been carried out since its launch in November 1998. NASA officials rescinded the order after two alerts and informed the crew they could re-enter the ISS while Russia’s space agency Roscosmos investigated the air leaks.

Roscosmos halted repairs on the leak once the astronauts returned to the station. NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens mentioned that the pause was due to ongoing measurements and data evaluations.

Following this development, NASA instructed the crew members aboard the Dragon spacecraft to discontinue the safe haven procedures and resume planned operations on the International Space Station. Collaboration with Roscosmos to address the leaks is anticipated.

Roscosmos reported detecting two leaks on the ISS, affirming there was no immediate threat to the crew or the station’s systems. The first leak was promptly sealed, and arrangements are being made to mend the second one.

The persistent issue of leaks prompting the emergency response has been a concern at the ISS for at least seven years, primarily localized in the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel linking the Russian segment to the rest of the station.

Efforts are ongoing with Russian counterparts and the international space community to find a lasting solution, as highlighted by Stevens in a prior Twitter post.

Initial concerns were raised with NASA in September 2019, marking an ongoing challenge up to the present. The ISS comprises multiple American and Russian segments, with additional modules added by the European and Japanese space agencies in 2008.

Currently, the space station accommodates seven astronauts involved in two separate missions. The Crew-12 team includes NASA’s Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, Sophie Adenot from the European Space Agency, and Roscosmos’s Andrey Fedyaev, who arrived in February. Other crew members, Christopher Williams from the US and Russians Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, joined in November.