Russia Quietly Changed Its Space Station Plans. Here's What That Means The proposed Russian Orbital Station will stick to a familiar path instead of an ambitious polar orbit

For five years, a slow but stubborn air leak in the Russian segment of the International Space Station quietly undercut confidence in the outpost’s aging hardware. Now, at the start of a new year, engineers finally have confirmation that the leak has stopped and the station’s atmosphere is stable again.

For the better part of half a decade, Russian cosmonauts have been searching for the small leaks like a proverbial needle in a haystack. They would periodically close the hatch leading to the PrK module and then, upon re-opening it, look for tiny accumulations of dust to indicate the leak sites.