Nasa astronaut Chris Williams has described the moment he and his crewmates were ordered to prepare for a possible evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS) during an attempt to fix an air leak, calling it “not a great feeling”.
Unusual day aboard the orbiting outpost
Williams, who recently returned from an eight-month mission, said it was a “very unusual day” and that the crew immediately fell back on their training, knowing “exactly what to do”. The main concern was the safety of two Russian cosmonauts carrying out the repair work.
In June, Nasa’s mission control directed five astronauts, including Williams, to take refuge in their docked Dragon spacecraft in case a quick escape was needed. They were also instructed to put on their spacesuits. The safe haven procedure lasted around two hours before they returned to the station, which orbits about 250 miles above Earth.
Cracks and leaks prompt caution
Nasa said the instruction was given “out of an abundance of caution” amid ongoing concerns about cracks and leaks in the ageing facility, which is set to be retired in 2030. The agency worked with Russia’s Roscosmos to address the problem.
Williams returned to Earth on July 26 after logging 241 days on his first spaceflight. During a news conference at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, he recounted the incident: “That was certainly a very unusual day on station. It was not something that we were expecting to do.”
He added: “We knew that there was some work going on… and that there were some cracks in the pressure vessel that they were investigating. But we sort of were going about our normal day until we were called up and told to go shelter in the Dragon.”
Crewmates in mind
Williams noted that while preparing for the shelter-in-place, the team kept their Russian colleagues, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, “in our minds”. He said: “You know, it’s certainly not a great feeling because you know my two crew mates are over on the Russian segment working in this compartment.”
He explained that the crew had planned for a five-person shelter-in-place and knew what to bring, including snacks in case they were there for a couple of hours. “When difficult situations like that come up, you fall back on your training,” he said.
Mission highlights and cooperation
During his time in space, Williams completed 3,856 orbits of Earth, travelling 102 million miles. His work included research for new cancer treatments and two spacewalks to prepare for power system upgrades and replace a faulty joint on a robotic arm.
Despite historical rivalry and current tensions over the invasion of Ukraine, Russia and the US continue to cooperate on the space station, with crews flying on each country’s spacecraft.
