A sudden spray of water erupted from a cracked segment of the station’s pressure hull. It spattered the control panel, frosting the glass. Crew members, counted at four, rushed to the module, ears ringing. It is—again—an unplanned breach. The leak underscores the station’s aging infrastructure.
Earlier this year, technicians patched a partial rupture in a nitrogen line, but the new drip caught no one off guard. Truth is, the ISS has been showing a pattern of episodic leaks. Engineers note that the aging composite panels lose stiffness over time when exposed to the harshities of space, making micro-fr
