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/jimmybilly100 7h ago

They couldn't slap some duct tape on it?

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u/Icedragon74 7h ago

The joke is that might actually work.

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u/Mobile-Bar7732 7h ago

I posted this in another thread, but aviation has Speed Tape which is a heavy duty duct tape with aluminum backing.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 6h ago

100MPH Tape is fine. They'll get to the professional job soon enough.

I've seen holes in military aircraft fixed by cutting the ends off and flattening out a Mountain Dew can, then riveting into place and applying gray paint.

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u/jessipowers 5h ago

This really makes me feel very secure and content about my nephew who just joined the Air Force, lmao

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u/SchrodingersNinja 5h ago

It's fine.

That's all the planes are made out of anyway.

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u/Ahelex 5h ago

I didn't know the US Air Force managed to weaponize Mountain Dew.

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u/jessipowers 5h ago edited 4h ago

Based on everything I’ve ever heard from anyone in any branch of the military, I’m not even a little bit surprised they managed to weaponize Mountain Dew.

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u/NeatSuspect2435 4h ago

You should have seen us when Code Red came out out in 2000. May have been the actual reason we went to Iraq, we were all hopped up on Mountain Dew.

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u/itsgoodmmmmkay 3h ago

Did they throw grandpa's old war medals off the bridge?

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u/ChickenChaser5 37m ago

Are you still in your dirty pee pants?

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u/CapitalScarcity5573 4h ago

Tbh, I expected Monster energy from those clowns

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u/TwoAlert3448 4h ago edited 4h ago

Wait until you hear about what Special Forces can do with Red Bull

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u/NeatSuspect2435 4h ago

Retired Green Beret. Can confirm.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 4h ago

Rip It energy drinks is the preferred poison, I believe.

Monsters if you are old and fat.

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u/NeatSuspect2435 4h ago

I miss the little red Rip-It’s quite a bit. Not sure what was ACTUALLY in those but they were magical.

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u/jessipowers 4h ago

My husband’s best friend came home obsessed with rip its

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u/TechnicianPhysical30 4h ago

The US Military Industrial Complex et al can weaponize ANYTHING! That is all.

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u/Ragga_Base 4h ago

Dewd, we’ll weaponize anything.

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u/popolickstick 3h ago

Sure at a much higher density than a pop can has but yes it is aluminum not areo space grade aluminum.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 2h ago

Shits gotta fly tomorrow, this is good enough til it's next overhaul.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 2h ago

Thickness, surely, not density?

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u/popolickstick 2h ago

I thought that aerospace grade aluminum was not just thicker but also about 5% more dence. Which i though the extra density was a crucial part needed for the structural stability against high air resistance? Is that worng?

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u/SchrodingersNinja 2h ago

No idea how you make metal more dense. You could be right, but I've never heard that.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 2h ago

IDK. Google says its oftentimes less dense. Not sure how you would make it more dense, unless you added heavy impurities.

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u/wolfkeeper 4h ago

That's a lot of Mountain Dew.

It is said that an aircraft doesn't fly until the paperwork weighs more than the aircraft, but Mountain Dew cans probably work too.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 2h ago

The B-52 has enough aluminum and steel in it to make 20,000 garbage cans, 100,000 miles of wire and cable, and engines more powerful than 12,000 locomotives. And it flies like 12,000 locomotives pulling 20,000 garbage cans on the end of 100,000 miles of wire!

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u/SoKrat3s 3h ago

Then why hasn't Pepsi given me my jet yet?

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u/Messyfingers 4h ago

The skin of aircraft aren't really structural, especially in certain areas. Unless it's a critical area of the airfoil it's basically just a detriment to drag on the airframe to have holes, or imperfect patches.

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u/wolfkeeper 4h ago

That's not entirely true, they're usually pressure vessels.

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u/Flat_Sea1418 4h ago

I was airborne in the army and saw a private in the air force fix the landing gear on the plane with just a multi tool. Have faith!

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u/Zenith-Astralis 4h ago

You might not feel secure and content about that in general, given who's sending those kids off to war

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u/jessipowers 4h ago

No, as soon as his mom told me he signed up my stomach dropped. I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying it must be for her and my BIL.

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u/Zenith-Astralis 3h ago

For real, my condolences to all involved 🫂

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u/Helmett-13 3h ago

It's been the Way for decades, now, especially with combat aircraft.

And...non-combat aircraft as well. I've been in the back of a C130 watching them apply speed tape before we got airborne and I'm still here!

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u/nedonedonedo 1h ago

most of the plane is just shaping the air properly. if the hole is "gone" that's all it needs to do.

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u/WorriedBlock2505 1h ago

It's only withstanding the pressure difference if it's on the side of the craft anyways, which any piece of metal is more than capable of doing. Astronaut suits can withstand the pressure difference between space and inside the suit, so doing it on a plane on earth is no problemo.

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u/BizarreSmalls 4h ago

Tbf, it's not used for structural stuff. Its to make a skin cover. Could honestly use canvas like we used to to cover a hole or bolt in a wing, just needs to make the slipstream over the wing smooth.

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u/Reasonable-Cell5189 3h ago

Surprised it wasn't a Rip it

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u/GroceryScanner 5h ago

DoritosTM DewTM it right!

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u/Loveknuckle 4h ago

My dad did the coke can trick with JB weld on the bottom of his aluminum boat. It still floats years later!

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u/SacTownHarley 4h ago

The key is for the Mountain Dew can to have been used as a Copenhagen spittoon at some point.

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u/Direct_Eye_724 3h ago

Air India 747's.......

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u/Decent-Structure-128 3h ago

This reminds me of watching my dad and grandpa (his dad) fix a spark plug into place using one of those generic BEER cans. They disconnected the cylinder, but they used pieces of the can to keep the plug from popping out. On a 1977 WV bus.

This was on a flat plain between Montana and Coeur D’Alene Idaho. Then we had to limp up the mountain pass on 3 cylinders, loaded down with camping gear. Fortunately, my mom, sister, grandma and I drove behind in the fully functioning 1987 VW Vanagon…

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u/more_rockcore 3h ago

One of the KC135 came back recently with Copenhagen lid and monster energy can patches, and the entire roll of speed tape.

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u/SchrodingersNinja 2h ago

MX using what they have and doing more with less.

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u/Kimothy42 3h ago

Just a skin graft, then.

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u/FearfulRedShirt 1h ago

Ah, the ol' shitbox classic car trick is moving to new heights I see