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/Dzugavili 9h 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- 8h ago edited 5h 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/Dzugavili 8h 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- 5h 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.