Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) were ordered to shelter in an attached spacecraft after the structure suddenly started leaking more air.

Five of the seven crew were directed to go into the docked SpaceX shuttle Dragon “Freedom” on Friday afternoon and were braced for a potential evacuation.

Meanwhile, two remaining personnel – a pair of Russian cosmonauts – attempted to repair a part of the Russian segment of the ISS, where the leaks had started increasing on Monday.

The repairs were paused and the crew ordered back onto the ISS by Nasa on Friday afternoon.

Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev, who arrived on the ISS in February, had been sheltering on the docked ship, along with another astronaut Chris Williams.

They had been told to put on their spacesuits so they were ready to undock and return to Earth at short notice.

The Dragon effectively functions as a lifeboat – attached to the station but ready to detach the moment the order is given.

The trigger for the order was a worsening air leak in the transfer tunnel, known as PrK, leading to a section of the Russian segment of the station called the Zvezda service module.

Russian cosmonauts, station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergei Mikaev, attempted to fix the problem. Their escape route was the separately docked Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft.

It is not the first time the station has had to deal with this problem – the cracks responsible have persisted on and off for around six years.

However, following the arrival of a Russian cargo ship last month, the Russian space agency Roscosmos noticed a fresh slow pressure drop in the tunnel, prompting the decision to move beyond patchwork fixes and attempt a more extensive repair operation on Friday.

But it was the method they were planning to use that prompted the order to take shelter, according to news agency Reuters.

Kud-Sverchkov and Mikayev were said to be using a saw to try and get into an area to access the crack that was leaking air.

Nasa disagreed with the method they were using and mission control in Houston ordered five crew to take “safe-haven” procedures on the Dragon ship.

When Roscosmos told their crew to pause repairs, Nasa instructed the astronauts to return to the station.

Nasa spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said on X: “Given this development, Nasa has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station.”

Russian news agency Tass, citing Roscosmos, reported that nothing had been threatening the safety of the crew or the ISS’s onboard systems.

The ISS, which spans the length of a football field, is the largest human-made object in space.

It has been continuously operated by a US-Russian-led consortium that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries since 1998.

[BBC]

Qualifier Maja Chwalinska is one win away from a fairytale French Open triumph after setting up a final showdown with Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.

The Polish world number 114, who had only ever won one match at a Grand Slam before this tournament, continued her astonishing run at Roland Garros by beating 25th seed Diana Shnaider 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Three weeks and nine matches after her French Open campaign began, Chwalinska dropped to the ground after firing in the 32nd and final winner of another scintillating display.

With that, she became the first qualifier in history to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros, and the crowd chanted her name as she spoke in her post-match interview.

On Saturday, she will attempt to become only the second qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam after Britain’s Emma Raducannu at the 2021 US Open.

It would be a fitting conclusion to a French Open filled with spectacular shocks  from the outset.

But, on the evidence of her dominant victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the in-form Andreeva will provide the sternest test of her credentials to date.

A beaten semi-finalist in 2024, the 19-year-old was hugely impressive in a 6-1 6-3 victory that made her the third-youngest woman to reach the Roland Garros showpiece this century, after Coco Gauff and Kim Clijsters.

Should she prevail in her first major final, eighth seed Andreeva would become the third-youngest first-time Grand Slam champion this century, after Maria Sharapova and Raducanu.

(BBC)

Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to end the war.

As it has before, the Kremlin responded, saying Zelensky was welcome to meet Putin in Moscow.

What was notable was Kyiv’s public acknowledgement that the US “is fully focused on the issue of Iran”.

“It would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the centre of its attention,” Zelensky wrote.

Speaking to foreign journalists in St Petersburg, without apparently having seen the contents of the letter, Putin said he was “certainly prepared and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine”, but said compromises needed to be made.

Putin suggested that as Trump was busy with Iran, the EU could talk Zelensky into surrendering territory.

Putin’s longstanding position has been that Ukraine should withdraw from four regions largely occupied by Russia – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – and give up its efforts to join Nato.

Ukraine has ruled out ceding territory, saying it would embolden Russia to invade again, as it had in 2022 when it launched its full-scale war eight years after illegally annexing Crimea.

Ceasefire negotiations have stalled in recent months, and previous peace talks in Geneva, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul have failed.

In the letter, which is more than 1,800 words long, Zelensky said: “It is not as if we in Ukraine are concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers after everything your war has brought to our country.

“But I do care about Ukrainians. We are losing our people, and every loss is painful to us.”

Zelensky said Russians had become tired of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, petrol shortages and rising prices, as well as war.

“Do not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now,” he implored.

He said Ukraine was proposing to end the war “through direct engagement between us”.

Zelensky said face-to-face negotiations could take place in a country such as Switzerland or Turkey.

The Ukrainian president’s letter came on the same day Putin was in St Petersburg, where a major economic forum is taking place.

The previous day Kyiv had launched a drone attack on the city’s outskirts, a strike mentioned in Zelensky’s message as “paying a visit”.

Separately Russian-backed authorities in occupied Crimea blamed Ukraine for the death of four people in attacks on the regional capital, Simferopol. Ukraine said it had hit a fuel depot.

On Friday, Ukrainian authorities said at least four people had been killed in a Russian strike on the offices of a food company outside Kyiv.

During his press conference on Thursday, Putin appeared to immediately cast doubt on whether a meeting or deal could ever take place.

Whether Mr Zelensky is a legitimate representative of Ukraine, this is a question for the lawyers, for a legal analysis,” he said – a repetition of a Russian line that there has been no presidential election since Zelensky’s term expired in May 2024.

However, elections have been suspended in Ukraine since martial law was declared after Russia’s invasion.

Trump said he thought the US had been instrumental in bringing the two countries closer to peace.

“I think it would be great if they met. They should. Get it done,” he said.

Asked about the compromises the two sides would have to make, he said he would “rather not say”.

“I want them each to make certain compromises, and I think they’re going to do it.”

(BBC)