An International Space Station Leak Is Getting Worse -- and Keeping NASA Up at Night
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... US space officials do not like to talk about the perils of flying astronauts on the aging International Space Station, elements of which are now more than a quarter of a century old.

However, a new report confirms that NASA managers responsible for operating the space station are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station, essentially a tunnel that connects a larger module to a docking port, which is leaking.

Russian and US officials have known that this small PrK module, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module, has been leaking since September 2019.

A new report, published Thursday by NASA's inspector general, provides details not previously released by the space agency that underline the severity of the problem.

New Details About the Leak

For example, in February of this year NASA identified an increase in the leak rate from less than 1 pound of atmosphere a day to 2.4 pounds a day, and in April this rate increased to 3.7 pounds a day.

Despite years of investigation, neither Russian nor US officials have identified the underlying cause of the leak. ...