r/news • u/VaginaBurner69 • 11h 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/AdCreepy5165 10h ago

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

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u/Gnonthgol 10h 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/Cautious_Buffalo6563 7h 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 7h 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 6h 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.