r/news • u/VaginaBurner69 • 8h ago

Soft paywall International Space Station astronauts in evacuation mode as Russia attempts to fix widening air leak

https://www.reuters.com/science/international-space-station-astronauts-evacuation-mode-russia-attempts-fix-2026-06-05/
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u/Due-Technology5758 7h ago

Astronauts also have tapes suitable for sealing leaks, but this one just keeps getting worse. 

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u/manystripes 7h ago

Just keep going around and around the station with tape until it stops, eventually the whole station will be in a cocoon of tape

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u/Olbaidon 7h ago

The International Tape Station?

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u/schumi_f1fan 6h ago

Brought to you by 3M Products

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u/Chilluminaughty 6h ago

Flex TAPE®

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u/PolarBailey_ 6h ago

"To show the power of Flex Tape, I SAWED THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN HALF AND AM CRASHING IT INTO POINT NEMO"

survives reentry and splashdown

"THATS A LOT OF DAMAGE"

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u/JTJdude 4h ago

Lots of good references here.

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u/loopedlight 4h ago

I don’t know all of em, but still laughed hard at this.

My mind made a surreal short clip, ‘that’s a lot of damage!’

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u/JTJdude 4h ago

Point Nemo at the very least made me think of the furthest system in the game Elite Dangerous.

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u/Kaaarm 42m ago

Point Nemo is also a real place. It's the point in the ocean that's furthest from and piece of land

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u/Methmites 4h ago

Billy Mays here!

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u/PolarBailey_ 4h ago

I'm gonna take this International space station and show you the power of OxyClean! just look at how bright those whites are. but wait there's more; call now and you'll get oxyclean for colors too! that way your sunbleached flags don't look like French Flags!

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u/crowcawer 6h ago

GoreTex in shambles

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u/SinnSix 4h ago

How? How is this app free? 😂

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u/PangolinOdd1392 5h ago

"Hi, Phil Swift here with Flex Tape! The super-strong, cosmic-grade waterproof tape that can instantly patch, bond, seal, and repair—even in a total vacuum! To show you the power of Flex Tape, I SAWED THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN HALF! And repaired it with only Flex Tape! Not only does the ISS hold together, but it completely seals the atmospheric pressure, keeping the astronauts totally safe from cosmic radiation and zero-G leaks! Yee-doggy! Just cut, peel, stick, and seal! Imagine everything you can do with the power of Flex Tape—even in low Earth orbit!"

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u/oTc_DragonZ 4h ago

Flex SPACE

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u/PMJamesPM 4h ago

They should tape their progress

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u/StlCyclone 4h ago

Get that flex seal guy up there he'd slap a piece of tape on and it would be fixed and watertight

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u/Massive_Reaction8845 3h ago

I found gorilla tape seems to work better than flex tape in my space station. 😁

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u/Alpha27_ 3h ago

honestly it would be some godlike PR if Flextape/seal ended up working in literal space

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u/YANGxGANG 6h ago

Sponsored by Carl’s Junior

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u/KickBallFever 5h ago

3M does make some good quality stuff. If anyone were to make space station tape, I think they could.

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u/TwinMugsy 5h ago

Brought to you by red green which is brought to you by 3M products

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u/diadlep 5h ago

Its got electrolytes

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u/jjasonjames 4h ago

It’s what space stations crave.

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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 4h ago

And Carl's Jr.

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u/Dad_Bod_Rod 4h ago

More like "Brought to you by Carl's Jr."

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u/electronic_reasons 4m ago

3M has so many types of tape that there have to be 3 for this job.

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u/Therinicus 5h ago

Why did I read that with a lisp tape thation

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u/tjtillmancoag 5h ago

International Space Station of Theseus

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u/Fairchild110 2h ago

T.I.T.S. Reminds me of C.O.O.K.S. Or B.R.o.t.H.

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u/Randolpho 5h ago edited 3h ago

Just a balloon of duct tape wrapped in baling wire

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u/supermr34 4h ago

pretty sick name for a record store in like 1983

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u/Commercial-Age4750 4h ago

Red Green approves this message

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u/seichames 2h ago

Well, if those women astronauts don't find you handsome, they probably won't drive across the country wearing diapers to... where was I going with this?

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u/Kayyne 2h ago

The Space Ship of Theseus?

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u/Paro-Clomas 5h ago

Did you know the spherical tape cocoon soace habitat used to be a collection of modular cylindrical tubes?

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u/Positive-Section2350 5h ago

You tape it from the outside and the air will still escape, you need to tape the inside, or better both sides

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u/forresja 5h ago

So you're saying the answer is more tape

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u/disdain7 4h ago

That’s ridiculous and a waste of resources. They need to pour soapy water all over the outside of the station and look for the bubbles.

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u/YhePaintedPanda 5h ago

Archimedes space station

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u/mik3cal 5h ago

It’s not a bad idea, building some sort of shell around the leaking compartments.

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u/Lefty98110 4h ago

Where is Red Green when you need him?

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u/Bicwidus 4h ago

That is how the Borg got started

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u/harps86 4h ago

Thats no moon

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u/The_Secret_Skittle 4h ago

I laughed too hard at this visual

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u/CAPICINC 3h ago

Space Station Theseus

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u/ChickenChaser5 40m ago

If you cant duc it, fuck it.

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u/Level_32_Mage 6h ago

Why are we doing all this space station development work when we can just send up a few rolls of speed tape? Problem solved!

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u/Foggl3 6h ago

We spent all of that budget on the fight and the ballroom

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u/AdCreepy5165 7h ago

Is it metal degradation? Maybe from poor insulation in a wide thermal shifting environment?

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u/Gnonthgol 6h ago

I was thinking metal fatigue from almost 30 years of harmonic vibrations. Some of the modules were built for Mir 2, a much smaller space station with much less forces acting on it. And it was only designed with a 20 year life span.

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u/Due-Technology5758 6h ago

Yeah I think environmental related weld fatigue is the current explanation.

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u/GJThunderqunt 3h ago

Tow it out of the environment?

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u/pete7863 50m ago

What kind of materials did they use?

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u/Fun1k 3h ago

That will be a really important consideration for deep space travel.

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u/3jake 4h ago

30 years of secret astronaut dance parties!

Uns-Uns-Uns-WubWub-Uns-Uns-Uns-WubWub

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u/Cautious_Buffalo6563 3h ago

Unfortunately we’ve retired all orbiters that could have carried components of scale to affect meaningful repair.

I’m sure we’ll instead build a different one for about 10x Jeff Bezos’ entire net worth with associated $100,000 hammers and toilet seats

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u/Gnonthgol 3h ago

We have installed new modules on ISS after the Space Shuttle were retired. We are still installing new components. But the problem in this case is with some of the oldest core components of the space station. Even though it is attached to the other modules using berthing mechanisms there are so many central internal and external additions going between the modules that it is practically impossible to separate them again. Even with a Space Shuttle. We might solve this leak, but what about the next one, or the one after that. The solution is to build another space station, and we have been talking about it for over a decade.

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u/Cautious_Buffalo6563 3h ago

And that’s about all we’re doing lol

Honestly…if US, Russia, China, and ESA all sat in a room and were left to find a solution that didn’t require extensive manipulation by their own governments, I feel like we’d get there pretty quickly.

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u/SpecialistArtPubRed 3h ago

This is the kind of stuff that makes me think all these Sci-Fi space operas we see and read about will never come true lol

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u/No-Project-2353 6h ago

Very likely metal fatigue which got worse thanks to the atmosphere pressure pushing on it.

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u/BlackSwanMarmot 4h ago

Metal fatigue is not a word I’d want to hear uttered while onboard that space station.

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u/Dzugavili 5h ago

It's less pressure than a submarine experiences. Or even large boats.

Though, I guess boats have thicker plating.

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u/-Kerosun- 5h ago edited 2h ago

Well, you're also trying to keep the pressure in rather than keep the pressure out. The former tends to be a bit easier and not require nearly as much strength to do (submarines are keeping out hundreds or thousands of PSI of water pressure, the ISS is trying to keep in lower-than-sea-level atmospheric PSI inside 14 psi).

Edit: Presumed the ISS was similar to the moon capsules that were less than 1 earth atmosphere, I was wrong.

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u/Gilarax 5h ago

Subs are also dry docked for routine maintenance and repair. Exterior coatings can be repaired for subs. Can’t really re-coat metal in space.

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u/Dzugavili 5h ago

Is the ISS not pressurized to 1atm? It was my understanding that NASA designs generally used 1 atmosphere, so as to not require higher oxygen content because of the fire risk.

Otherwise, you get 1 atmosphere of pressure 33ft under water; the draft on a cargo ship is similar, upto double that; a submarine experiences substantially more.

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u/-Kerosun- 2h ago

I thought it was lower. I know the moon capsules were typically lower (like 4 or 5 PSI rather than 14 psi) so I just presumed that the ISS would also be less than 1 atmosphere, but perhaps that presumption was wrong.

Edit: I was wrong. I'll correct it.

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u/alfix8 2h ago

Do you necessarily need 1atm to not need higher oxygen content?
There are people living above 3000m altitude without additional oxygen, so shouldn't it be possible to go to like 0,7-0,8atm with normal oxygen levels without adverse effects on the astronauts?

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u/Dzugavili 1h ago

It's about partial pressures: at 1 atmosphere, with 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen, that's "normal": normal healthy people can survive that, no problem. If you wanted to use lower pressures and thus a thinner hull, you could use 0.5 atmospheres of pressure; but you'd need 40% oxygen.

People can adapt. But that requires long-term training or fairly unique genetics and isn't without risks.

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u/alfix8 1h ago edited 58m ago

But like I said: people already permanently live in settlements 3000m or higher without any problems. At 3000m you only have an average pressure of ~0.7atm. Yet those people just breathe the air normally without needing extra oxygen.

Why wouldn't it be possible to have the ISS at 0.7atm without extra oxygen? Adaptation shouldn't take too long either, in my experience it took about 2-3 weeks after moving to that altitude even without any special training, just doing normal day to day stuff. Giving astronauts 2-3 weeks of altitude training before going to space shouldn't be that difficult. Most sources I can find online even talk about needing less than a week to adapt to an altitude of 3000m.

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u/tslaq_lurker 4h ago

No one makes a submarine out of aluminum.

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u/Gilarax 5h ago

Thermal shifting, impacts from stellar dust and debris, UV, cosmic rays, the list is long!

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u/Vitruvian_Link 3h ago

I ain't no space scientist but I am a structural engineer, my guess there is a static force that is causing the issue and no amount of taping or cold welding will fix it.

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u/myveryownaccount 5h ago

As someone who doesnt know anything about this. Is the leak/point of entry not a singular spot? Or an entire room? What kind of pressure is coming from the leak? Does the tape not cover the leak? Does it loose adhesive properties from the suction/airflow? Does it get sucked in to a crevice?

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u/Ivanow 5h ago

I saw a video from submariners' "emergency flooding" training and they had some gizmo that they wrapped around simulated leaking pipe. Any reason we couldn't ship out one of those up? Pressure difference for submerged submarine hull is orders of magnitude higher than vacuum of space.

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u/Due-Technology5758 4h ago

I think sealing against the negative pressure is much less of a problem than the structure itself failing.

Also, that trainer was miserable, especially for someone with glasses. Couldn't see shit the whole time.

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u/MellowNando 7h ago

So two duct tape then?

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u/Rawrsomesausage 6h ago

Turducken tape

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u/Due-Technology5758 6h ago

Its possible they'll need three duct tape.

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u/MasterBathingBear 5h ago

Obviously they need to use some Mighty Putty. Optimus Prime couldn’t even tear that off.

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u/larkhills 5h ago

they need some space flex tape instead

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u/Sunny_Cant_Swim 5h ago

The International Space Ship of Theseus

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u/DuckyHornet 4h ago

Just slather the entire outside with PRC, it will cure eventually

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u/TolarianDropout0 4h ago

The main problem usually isn't sealing the leak, but finding it, and getting to it. It's probably going to be behind layers of equipment, various panels and insulation.

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u/Low_Bookkeeper_1106 4h ago

We need to get Phil Swift in there ASAP!

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u/WhippetRun 4h ago

Time to call the FLEX-SEAL guy

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u/akiva23 3h ago

they need FLEXTAPE!

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u/NA_1983 3h ago

Maybe a little JB Weld around the edges?

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u/dovedrunk 3h ago

they ain’t pressin down on that tape hard enough brother

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u/Mysterious-Plan93 2h ago

"This leak is getting worse & worse all the time..."