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The International Space Station Has Been Leaking for Five Years
Pesky leaks on the International Space Station aren’t the most serious issue facing U.S. human spaceflight
It’s also a reality, one that a recent agency report calls “a top safety risk.” Amid months of headlines about astronauts stranded by Boeing’s Starliner vehicle and NASA’s announcement of a contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to destroy the ISS early next decade, the ongoing concerns about the leaks come as another reminder that supporting a long-term population in space is a challenge that’s quite literally out of this world. As long as the leaks stay steady, Klaus says, the only real issue is that astronauts may need more frequent or larger deliveries of air, which is one of the many so-called consumables, such as food and water, that cargo vehicles supply to the station. But the leak challenges give additional urgency to a concern that the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has been raising for years: that the orbital laboratory will fail before it can be safely destroyed —and will fall uncontrolled through Earth’s atmosphere, with its debris potentially doing serious damage to people and buildings.
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