Astronauts told to prepare to evacuate International Space Station after air leak reported

They've been told to take shelter.

The astronauts have also been told by NASA to take shelter as the leaks continue to worsen in the Russian segment of the spacecraft.

It is being reported that while the astronauts are taking shelter, a Russian cosmonaut is attempting to fix the leak.

What is an air leak in space?

An air leak in space is not a good thing, hence why NASA has told astronauts to prepare for evacuation if the situation worsens.

Similar to a tyre on earth, the ISS is pressurised to a breathable Earth-like atmosphere since space is a vacuum.

A leak would mean the air being pressurised inside the spacecraft is escaping into the vaccuum of a space, not good at all for those on board.

Astronaut vs Cosmonaut

The terms astronauts and cosmonaut mean the same thing, and are simply a result of the space race.

Astronaut is simply the term the west uses for people trained for spaceflight while cosmonaut is simply for a Russian trained for spaceflight.

This makes Neil Armstrong an astronaut and Yuri Gagarin a cosmonaut.

Why are there Russians on the ISS?

The ISS is one of the few places in the current political climate where the West cooperate so closely with the Russians.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia have been shunned on the international stage with trade and travel with the country reduced massively.

However, in space Russians have been ever present alongside Americans and the rest of the world.

This is because the ISS is a joined project between NASA and the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) and it needs personnel from both to function.

The orbital outpost was designed to be a highly integrated, interdependent system that requires both Roscosmos and NASA to function.

Russia operates the propulsion systems and thrusters required to keep the ISS in orbit and perform debris-avoidance manoeuvres.

Conversely, the U.S. segment provides the vast majority of the station's electrical power and communications.