Almost two weeks ago, NASA placed its only astronaut onboard the ISS, Chris Cassidy, in the Russian segment of the orbiting laboratory along with cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin after a leak was discovered in the US section. By doing so, NASA hoped it would be able to apply different air pressures to different parts of the ISS in order to locate a leak.
The ISS is constantly losing a tiny amount of air each day, but recently NASA has noted the space station has been losing a lot more than normal.
Orbiting more than 400 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, the ISS needs a constant supply of fresh oxygen.
However, when the ship begins to lose oxygen – more so than it normally does – it becomes a cause for concern.
NASA had hoped to identify the source of the leak over the weekend of August 22, but so far has been unable to.
As such, NASA spokesman Daniel Hout told Business Insider the search is “taking longer than expected.”
However, he added: “The leak rate is still stable and well below the design specifications for the station and presents no concern for crew or vehicle safety.”
Mr Hout believes the search should be completed “in the coming days.”
The last time a major leak came was in 2018, which was somewhat mysterious and sparked a mini-war of words between NASA and Roscosmos.
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However, Roscosmos bosses re-opened the dialogue but teased NASA with the secret.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, revealed an investigation has determined the course of the two-millimetre hole – but the space agency is not giving up its secrets.
Mr Rogozin told a youth science conference: “The hole was in the living quarters of the capsule, it has long since burned up upon reentry. We took all the samples.
“We know exactly what happened, but we won’t tell you anything. We do need to retain some sort of secrecy.”