Exactly how NASA could evacuate ISS amid fears about leaks and cracks on the space station

A growing leak on the International Space Station has sparked fears that astronauts on board may need to evacuate, including the two stranded by Boeing's Starliner. A spaceflight expert told DailyMail.com that if evacuation became necessary, each crew would escape in their assigned NASA spacecraft, including the SpaceX Dragon capsule and the Russian Soyuz. All seven astronauts are staying on the US side due to a leak in the Russian module The main leak was identified in a service module transfer tunnel in Russia's Zvezda module that provides station living quarters, life support systems, electrical power distribution and data processing, flight control and propulsion systems. ESA astronaut Tim Peake took this photo from inside Cupola in 2016, showing a 7 mm-diameter circular chip gouged out by the impact from a tiny piece of space debris Each crew's capsule has an assigned shelter-in-vehicle plan that will protect astronauts from threats aboard the ISS, and allow them to flee the space station if necessary, according to a September report from NASA's Office of the Inspector General. NASA is now tracking 50 'areas of concern' related to a leak in the Russian Zvezda Service Module Transfer Tunnel which sprung a leak in 2019 The Canadarm2 robot arm was struck by space debris in May 2021, creating a hole that fortunately didn't impact the functionality of the robotic arm It was the focus of the September report from the OIG, which found that the leak then hit record rates in April - losing 3.7 pounds of air every day.