ISS leaks among 50 'areas of concern' for astronaut safety: report

NASA and Russia are working together on addressing the situation in the wake of an Office of the Inspector General report last month.

NASA and its Russian counterpart have identified 50 "areas of concern" related to a long-running leak aboard the space station, a media report states.

The leak has been ongoing since 2019 in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and was the focus of a new report from NASA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published in September. While NASA and Roscosmos are addressing the leak, it remains a top "safety risk" for astronauts on board, the OIG report stated.

NASA officials, speaking in an exclusive with the Washington Post, said they are tracking four cracks and 50 other "areas of concern" on the ISS. The cracks have "all been covered with a combination of sealant and patches" by Roscosmos, NASA noted in a statement to the newspaper, and fixes are ongoing. Still, the leaking area is the top risk, at a 5 on a scale of 5, in NASA's internal risk assessments, the OIG stated.

"We have conveyed the seriousness of the leaks multiple times, including when I was in Russia earlier this year," associate administrator Jim Free added in an interview with the Post. Since the leaks are adjacent to a hatch, Free added that Roscosmos acquiesced to a NASA request to close the hatch as much as possible: “We've come to a compromise that they close it in the evening."

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