Crew spent an extra night in Russian segment as

NASA says there was nothing to worry about.

Aug. 25, 9:45 a.m.: 

The trio of astronauts currently living and working on the International Space Station re-opened the hatch between the Russian and American sides of the station on Tuesday morning, according to NASA spokesperson Dan Huot.

Original story:

Astronauts spent another night in the International Space Station’s Russian segment Monday (Aug. 24) while ground controllers continued to search for the source of a small  air leak on the orbiting lab.

NASA’s Chris Cassidy, commander of the station’s current Expedition 63, and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner had been confined to the orbiting lab’s Zvezda service module since Friday (Aug. 21) as ground teams investigated the leak, which NASA officials stressed posed no threat to the astronauts. 

The original plan called for the trio to have the run of the full station again by Monday. But ground teams needed a little more time to conduct their work, so Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner will extended their sleepover by at least a day.

Aug.27:

No news is good news, so it is presumed that the leak has been repaired.




NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy snoozes in a sleeping bag in a Russian airlock on the International Space Station (ISS) instead of its U.S. segment  as engineers on the ground work to isolate air leak.  (Picture – Ivan Vagner/Roscosmos)

NASA Support staff will continue to evaluate the situation and determine any tasks for the crew to complete over the course of the week.