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‘Possibility of a catastrophic failure’: Inside the space station leak problem that has NASA worried

Leaks are affecting a key part of the International Space Station. NASA and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, are not seeing eye to eye about the level of risk.

Oversight officials in the United States now consider this issue to be the most pressing problem facing the aging space station, one that could threaten the safety of the crew, according to a recent report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General. In addition to requiring astronauts to close off the entrance to the Russian section when the Zvezda transfer tunnel is open, the US agency is now putting an extra “pallet seat” aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The pallet seat sits on top of an area in the spacecraft that is typically used to hold cargo, and it’s essentially a piece of foam that an astronaut can strap themselves to if they need to ride a Crew Dragon capsule home in case of an emergency.

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