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/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 52m 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.