A serious air leak on the International Space Station forced astronauts to seal themselves inside the Russian Zvezda module last night, while ground teams scrambled to patch a hull breach in the US-built Tranquility node. UK Space Agency officials have already claimed the British-built Cupola module remains 'fully secure', but internal Nasa reports obtained by this newsroom suggest a far more precarious situation. Source documents show the leak rate was initially underestimated by 40 per cent, and that a critical safety valve failed during the emergency.
Three astronauts were inside Tranquility when alarms sounded at 19:42 GMT. They isolated themselves in Zvezda for six hours as the station's pressure dropped by 0.3 per cent.
The debris shield, designed to protect the hull, had been flagged for 'micro-cracking' in a routine inspection last month. That report was never actioned. Nasa insists the crew was never in danger.
But a senior engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told me: 'That was a near miss. If the leak had been on the Cupola, we wouldn't be having this conversation.' The UK Space Agency, in a statement, praised the 'robust design of British-built modules'.
That's rich, considering the agency has quietly awarded a £200 million contract to the same company whose bolts failed on the Tranquility hatch. The ISS partnership is fraying. Russia has already threatened to pull out by 2028.
And as the race for dominance in low Earth orbit accelerates, the last thing anyone needs is a hull breach that exposes the cosy relationships between national agencies and the private contractors who build their toys. I'll be following the money on this one. Sources confirm a full investigation is underway, but don't expect a straight answer from anyone wearing a suit.
