NASA Astronauts Seek Refuge on International Space Station Russia Sector After Suspicions of ISS Gas Leak

After initial fears about a possible toxic gas leak aboard the International Space Station, it appears that a problem with a computer onboard the craft sounded the alarm by mistake, which then prompted astronauts located on the American side of the station to move to the Russian sector on Wednesday while the situation was investigated.

The incident, which occurred roughly at 4 a.m. ET, forced astronauts to wear oxygen masks before taking refuge in the Russian part of the ship, The Associated Press reports. Then, the hatches connecting the U.S. and Russian portions of the ISS had to be sealed while flight controllers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston turned off certain equipment.

When the alarm sounded, astronauts were handling supplies and experiments that arrived via a new SpaceX capsule. SpaceX is the private space exploration firm founded by Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla Motors, a company that specializes in making electric cars.

A few minutes later, Mission Control indicated that there was no danger present, and the astronauts were permitted to return to the U.S. zone. However, Mission Control some time later told the astronauts there to return to the Russian zone as more evidence of a gas leak surfaced.

The situation is expected to be resolved, resulting in an all-clear, by Wednesday night. However, what remains is an issue with the computer system.

Meanwhile, Russian space officials who initially jumped the gun and reported that a leak had taken place were forced to backtrack from that pronouncement.

This is not the first time that astronauts aboard the ISS have had to brace themselves for possible disaster. There have been instances of close calls with space junk. In those situations, the astronauts aboard the station sought out refuge in Russian Soyuz capsules, which are the equivalent of lifeboards on the ISS. Astronauts could use those capsules to escape the station and return to Earth.

No such drastic measures needed to be taken in this instance, and it's widely expected that the entire ordeal will be in the history books by sometime Wednesday.