NASA told International Space Station astronauts to prepare for a possible evacuation because of an air leak in the Russian segment of the station. The agency directed the crew to shelter in the SpaceX‑built Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station. The leak originated from the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel (PrK). Four astronauts of NASA’s Crew‑12 mission – two Americans, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut – were ordered to shelter, while Russian cosmonauts worked to repair the crack.

Accounts differ on how many astronauts actually took shelter. Qatar reported that four astronauts sheltered in the transport capsule during the evacuation‑shelter procedure, while Pakistan said five astronauts – the four Crew‑12 members plus another U.S. astronaut – took shelter. Al Jazeera also reported four astronauts in the capsule, and Dawn reported five astronauts in the capsule.

According to Dawn, NASA reversed the evacuation order roughly two hours later, allowing the astronauts to return to the station. NASA said the decision to have astronauts take shelter was made “out of an abundance of caution,” as reported by GDELT. GDELT also noted that the air‑leak cracks have been a long‑standing concern that NASA watches closely.

Kernel.news reported that Crew‑11 was medically evacuated from the ISS on 14 January 2026, with four astronauts returning to Earth early.