Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

宇航员在因空气泄漏维修避难后被告知返回国际空间站

Astronauts have been told to return to the International Space Station (ISS) after sheltering in their spacecraft while repair works were carried out on new air leaks in the Russian segment of the station. 在俄罗斯舱段进行新的空气泄漏维修工作期间，宇航员们曾躲避在各自的航天器中，目前他们已被告知可以返回国际空间站（ISS）。

The five crew members had been told to assume an “elevated safety posture” as two Russian cosmonauts attempted repairs on the Zvezda service module’s transfer tunnel. 当两名俄罗斯宇航员尝试对“星辰号”（Zvezda）服务舱的转接通道进行维修时，五名机组成员曾被要求采取“高度安全戒备状态”。

Nasa said the segment had suffered from cracks and leaks “for some time” - our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports this is not the first time the station has had to deal with such a problem. 美国国家航空航天局（NASA）表示，该舱段出现裂缝和泄漏已经“有一段时间了”——我们的科学记者帕拉布·高什（Pallab Ghosh）报道称，这并非空间站首次面临此类问题。

Russia’s Interfax news outlet reported Roscosmos as saying two leaks were identified and one has already been fixed. 据俄罗斯国际文传电讯社报道，俄罗斯国家航天集团（Roscosmos）表示已发现两处泄漏，其中一处已得到修复。

It added that the crew and the ISS onboard systems were also not in danger, according to reporting by Russia’s Tass news agency. 据俄罗斯塔斯社报道，该机构补充称，机组人员和国际空间站的机载系统目前没有危险。

Nasa spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said the structural repair works had been paused while measurements and data were being assessed, prompting the astronauts’ being told to return to the station. NASA发言人贝瑟尼·史蒂文斯（Bethany Stevens）表示，由于正在对测量结果和数据进行评估，结构维修工作已暂停，因此宇航员被告知可以返回空间站。

Pallab Ghosh, Science correspondent

帕拉布·高什，科学记者

The leak that has put the ISS crew on alert today is not new - it has been one of the most persistent and troubling problems in the station’s history, and despite years of attempts, engineers have never fully solved it. 今天让国际空间站机组人员进入戒备状态的泄漏问题并非新问题——这是空间站历史上最持久、最令人困扰的问题之一。尽管经过多年的尝试，工程师们从未彻底解决它。

The problem is in the PrK - a small tunnel that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda service module. Microscopic structural cracks in its walls have been slowly releasing air into the vacuum of space. The Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, first reported the leak in September 2019. Over time it worsened, eventually doubling to around nearly one kilogram of air lost per day — prompting Nasa to classify it as the station’s highest-level safety risk. 问题出在PrK——这是一个连接对接端口与俄罗斯“星辰号”服务舱的小型通道。其舱壁上的微观结构裂缝一直在缓慢地向太空真空环境释放空气。俄罗斯国家航天集团于2019年9月首次报告了这一泄漏。随着时间的推移，情况不断恶化，最终空气流失量翻倍，达到每天近一公斤，促使NASA将其列为空间站最高级别的安全风险。

Earlier this year, engineers thought they had finally made progress. After multiple inspections and sealant applications, Nasa reported in January that pressure readings suggested a stable configuration had been reached - though there remained uncertainty about whether the leak had truly been sealed or whether air was simply escaping elsewhere. 今年早些时候，工程师们曾认为终于取得了进展。经过多次检查和密封剂涂抹，NASA在1月份报告称，压力读数表明已达到稳定状态——尽管对于泄漏是否真正被封堵，或者空气是否只是从其他地方逸出，仍存在不确定性。

Those doubts proved well founded. On 1 May, as Russian cosmonauts unloaded cargo from the Progress 95 supply spacecraft, sensors detected a fresh pressure drop. The leak had returned. 这些疑虑被证明是有根据的。5月1日，当俄罗斯宇航员从“进步号”（Progress 95）补给飞船卸货时，传感器检测到了新的压力下降。泄漏再次出现。

By Monday this week it had escalated once again to a kilogram of air per day, prompting Roscosmos to abandon its mend-and-make-do approach and go for a proper repair today. 到了本周一，泄漏量再次升级至每天一公斤，促使俄罗斯国家航天集团放弃了修修补补的方案，并于今天进行了正式维修。

The reason five crew members sheltered in the Dragon spacecraft is straightforward: the repair requires the cosmonauts to work inside the very section that is losing pressure. 五名机组成员躲在“龙”飞船（Dragon）中的原因很简单：维修工作需要宇航员在压力流失的舱段内部进行作业。

If the cracks widen suddenly, the rate of air loss could accelerate faster than ground teams could compensate for. Having the rest of the crew suited up and inside a sealed, self-contained spacecraft means they can undock and be home within hours if the situation deteriorates. 如果裂缝突然扩大，空气流失的速度可能会超过地面团队的补偿能力。让其余机组人员穿好宇航服并待在密封的独立航天器中，意味着如果情况恶化，他们可以在数小时内脱离对接并返回地球。

Crew Profiles (Selected)

机组成员简介（节选）

Jessica Meir (48): Commands the Crew-12 mission. Born in Caribou, Maine, she holds a doctorate in marine biology and made history in 2019 as part of the first all-female spacewalk. 杰西卡·梅尔（48岁）： Crew-12任务指令长。出生于缅因州卡里布，拥有海洋生物学博士学位，2019年作为首次全女性太空行走成员之一创造了历史。
Jack Hathaway (44): Crew-12’s pilot and a US Navy Commander. Trained as a test pilot at the Empire Test Pilots’ School in the UK. 杰克·海瑟薇（44岁）： Crew-12飞行员，美国海军指挥官。曾在英国帝国试飞员学校接受试飞员培训。
Sophie Adenot (43): A French colonel, helicopter test pilot and the second French woman ever to reach space. 索菲·阿德诺（43岁）： 法国上校，直升机试飞员，历史上第二位进入太空的法国女性。
Chris Williams (42): A Nasa physicist and former cancer researcher at Harvard Medical School. 克里斯·威廉姆斯（42岁）： NASA物理学家，曾任哈佛医学院癌症研究员。
Sergey Kud-Sverchkov (42): The station commander, a rocket engineer born in Baikonur. Awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation after his first ISS mission in 2020. 谢尔盖·库德-斯维尔奇科夫（42岁）： 空间站指令长，出生于拜科努尔的火箭工程师。在2020年首次执行国际空间站任务后被授予“俄罗斯联邦英雄”称号。
Sergei Mikaev (39): On his first spaceflight. A former Major and commander of a military aviation unit in Russia’s far east. 谢尔盖·米卡耶夫（39岁）： 首次执行太空飞行。曾任俄罗斯远东地区军事航空部队少校及指挥官。
Andrey Fedyaev (45): A Russian cosmonaut and former Air Force major, on his second spaceflight. 安德烈·费佳耶夫（45岁）： 俄罗斯宇航员，前空军少校，目前正在执行第二次太空飞行。