Astronauts on International Space Station told to prepare for evacuation following emergency

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have been told to put on their spacesuits and prepare to evacuate over an air leak.

As reported by Sky News, NASA has confirmed today (5 June) that the worsening leak is taking place on the Russian segment of the ISS, which is the largest human-made structure in space.

According to the outlet, at the moment, the astronauts have been told to shelter in the spacecraft while a Russian crew member is trying to fix the leak, which is taking place on a portion of the orbital laboratory - specifically the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel.

For those who are unfamiliar, the International Space Station is a large spacecraft that orbits around Earth.

It serves as a home where crews of astronauts and cosmonauts live and conduct research, as the space station is also a unique science laboratory.

NASA Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have been told to prepare for potential evacuation (Getty Stock Image)

The ISS orbits roughly 250 miles above Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, and it has hosted nearly 300 astronauts from across the globe.

Reuters reports that the air links haven't been a cause for concern ⁠in recent months; however, they escalated on Monday (1 June) from a pound of air per day to two ⁠pounds, ​according to a senior NASA ​official.

The four astronauts who are on NASA's side of the space station as part of the Crew-12 mission, two American astronauts, one French astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut, got the order from mission control at 9.04am ET (2pm BST) today to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station and to put on their spacesuits in case the leak leads to an emergency evacuation.

NASA spokesperson Bethany Stephens wrote on X: "The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date.

"The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts."

NASA have issued a statement following the leak (Getty Stock Image)

She clarified: "Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5. Out of an abundance of caution, NASA has directed all four of the agency's SpaceX Crew-12 members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams to assume an elevated safety posture in the Dragon spacecraft while the repair is underway.

"We continue to work with our Russian counterparts, along with the rest of the international community that supports the space station, to arrive at a more permanent resolution."

According to The Independent, NASA and Roscosmos, the national space agency of the Russian Federation, have been monitoring the air leak on the space station for about six years, and while attempts to fix it have temporarily stemmed the problem, they have never completely resolved it.