The International Space Station (ISS) may have to receive extra air after it begins to leak at higher volumes than usual, according to the Russian Space Agency.

Russian media quoted Roscosmos Executive Director Sergey Krykalev as saying that the air leak was identified in one section of the service unit and posed no danger to the Russian and American crew on board.

The crew was said to be planning to eliminate the leak in the coming days.

NASA It had previously revealed how flight controllers had awakened the crew on the International Space Station to continue exploring a small leak that seemed to be growing in size.

NASA astronaut Bob Behnken arrives at the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in this still image taken from the May 31, 2020 video. Pic: NASA
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The leak is said to not pose an immediate danger to the International Space Station crew

NASA astronaut, station commander Chris Cassidy, astronauts Roscosmos Antuli Evanshin and Evan Wagner were asked to collect data using an ultrasound leak detector.

NASA’s Kenny Todd, Deputy Director ISSOn Tuesday he said, “Regarding the station, we are in very good shape.

“The only problem I’m going to pose at this point is this little leak in the atmosphere that has proven to be a bit difficult over the past two months.

More from the International Space Station

“But for those of you who follow the station in orbit operations regularly, you’ll know we’ve been dealing with a small leak in the atmosphere during another … well … already over a year.”

He added, “We decided to go ahead and wake the crew. We went through actively for several hours and think we got back some additional data.”

“We got a more accurate point about where we think the leak is about the module. We, at this point, we think it is in the Russian part, in the service unit area. Again, we continue to look at all the data from the test.”

“But what we know and confirmed with our Russian colleagues is that we think something is going on there.”

This long exposure image shows the International Space Station streaming across the sky through the moon prior to the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 5, 2010 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics unit filled with science lab racks on board the International Space Station. AFP PHOTO / Stan HONDA (Image credit STAN HONDA / AFP must be read via Getty Images)
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This long exposure image shows the International Space Station streaming across the sky, past the moon

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“The size of the leak that was identified overnight is due to a temporary change in temperature on board the station, with the overall rate of leakage remaining unchanged,” NASA said in a statement.

“The leak, which has been investigated for several weeks, does not pose a direct threat to the crew at the current leak rate and is only a slight deviation from the crew schedule,” the statement added.

Once the night inspections were completed, NASA said, the crew once again opened the gates between the US and Russian sectors and “resumed normal activities.”

At the end of the week, an unmanned cargo ship is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station.

The three residents from the International Space Station – scheduled to take part in what will be the 64th mission to the International Space Station since its launch in 1998 – are scheduled to leave Earth on October 14.