NASA astronauts return to International Space Station after Russia pauses repairs to new leaks

NASA astronauts resumed normal operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday after briefly sheltering in the docked SpaceX Dragon spacecraft while Russia's space agency paused a repair operation that was intended to address new leaks found in the Russian segment of the station. Astronauts had taken "safe haven procedures" out of an abundance of caution, according to NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens.

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The new leaks were found in the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, which has been plagued by a series of ongoing cracks that have been managed by Russia's Roscosmos agency, Stevens said.

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Four astronauts from the SpaceX Crew-12 mission and NASA astronaut Chris Williams, who was also aboard the station, were ordered to take shelter in the Dragon spacecraft that's docked at the ISS while Roscosmos attempted to carry out a more extensive repair operation Friday.

The Crew-12 mission, which launched on Feb. 13, includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

Williams arrived separately on Nov. 27, 2025, aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The astronauts returned later Friday after Roscosmos paused repairs indefinitely.

"NASA has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station," Stevens said.

"We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks."

Check back for updates on this developing story.