International Space Station astronauts under evacuation orders over air leak

Nasa says Russian crew trying to fix worsening air leak in its portion of orbital laboratory

The International Space Station

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were ​ordered by NASA to shelter in their ‌spacecraft and prepare for potential evacuation on Friday as a Russian crew attempts to fix a worsening leak ​of air on its portion of the ​orbital laboratory, NASA said.

The four astronauts ⁠of NASA's Crew-12 mission on the station - ​two US astronauts, a French astronaut and Russian ​cosmonaut - got orders from NASA mission control at 1.04pm Irish time to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft ​docked to the station and don their ​spacesuits in case the air leak warrants an emergency evacuation, ‌a ⁠NASA official said.

NASA and Russia's space agency Roscosmos, the station's two primary operators, have debated for months over the cause and potential fixes ​of small ​air leaks ⁠aboard Russia's Zvezda service module, a key structure of the football field-sized ​laboratory.

The air leaks have been relatively ​minor ⁠in recent months but escalated on Monday from a pound of air per day to two ⁠pounds, ​according to a senior NASA ​official who asked not to be named.

-Reuters