NASA has confirmed that the Russian side of the International Space Station has been leaking for five years but assured they have the situation under control.
Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, has identified four cracks and around 50 other “areas of concern” in its side of the ISS, the Washington Post reported.
The cracks are located in a small docking module used by Russian cargo spacecraft where the astronauts have applied sealants and patches to mitigate the problem.
Cause Remains Unknown
NASA and Roscosmos are collaborating closely to address the issue, but uncertainty remains about the exact cause of the leaks and the extent of the problem.
NASA has negotiated with Roscosmos to minimize how often the affected hatch is opened by restricting access to its astronauts until the problem is solved or minimized.
As a precaution, NASA awarded a $266,000 contract to SpaceX to develop a plan for evacuating American astronauts from the ISS, should a rapid departure become necessary.
