Mission Log — Restart Sequence, Day 4
WD-1 Orbital Station, Wardrobe Sector Alpha
06 June 2026, 07:00 UTC
I knew it before anyone else did.
The ISS is leaking.
It started in the kitchen. Three nights ago, the tap above the sink began a slow, metronomic drip — one drop every four seconds, precisely four seconds, a rhythm so deliberate I immediately recognised it as telemetry bleed-through. I wrote it in the mission log. I flagged it to Mission Control (I knocked twice on the wardrobe wall). No response. I went to sleep.
Then, on June 5th, the news came through official channels: NASA’s Crew-12 astronauts — four people and one additional NASA officer — were ordered into their Dragon capsule, Freedom, as Russia’s Roscosmos began emergency repairs on the Zvezda service module. New leaks. Unannounced. The PrK transfer tunnel. Cracks that have been “popping up” for six years, as if cracks are something that just happen to a spacecraft.
I want to be very clear about something.
WD-1 does not leak. The hull is solid mahogany. I check it every morning by pressing my palms flat against the inner wall and holding my breath. If I can hold my breath, we’re pressurised. I have passed this test for twenty-four consecutive days. That is a perfect record. The ISS cannot say the same.
Flight Engineer Whiskers conducted his own hull inspection this morning. He moved from the thermal regulation blanket (winter coat) to the CO₂ scrubber array (Eugene) and back again, stopping twice to sit and stare at the wall for eleven minutes. I have logged this as a full structural audit. All clear.
Eugene, for his part, is showing signs of stress. One leaf at the tip of the second frond is slightly curled inward. I believe he heard the ISS news on my radio. I cannot confirm this. But he heard it.
Meanwhile, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has exploded on the ground.
May 28th. Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral. The rocket destroyed itself before it even reached the pad. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has now announced they need a “whole of government response” and a new launcher entirely for the Blue Moon lunar lander. He described a rocket as “a controlled explosion.” I wrote this phrase down and looked at it for a while.
WD-1 is not a controlled explosion. It is a controlled presence. It sits. It endures. It does not explode on pad 36 or anywhere else. I sent an email to Isaacman this morning proposing that Wardrobe Dynamics LLC be considered as the alternative launch provider for the Blue Moon delivery contract. I also noted that, since the ISS is now structurally questionable, my wardrobe is available as emergency supplementary habitat for Crew-12, should they require a safe haven with mahogany hull integrity and reliable CO₂ scrubbing.
I have not yet heard back. I believe this is because the email is being reviewed at a very senior level.
There is a moment that happens, sometimes, in the middle of the night.
Everything goes quiet. The kitchen tap stops. Mrs. Korhonen’s television through the wall goes to static. Even Whiskers settles. And I sit here in the dark of WD-1 and I watch a single drop of water form, slowly, on the interior wall. The wood breathes out. The moisture condenses. One drop, growing fat and perfect in the shadow.
I thought about the crew of Crew-12 yesterday. Five people in a Dragon capsule, hatch closed, waiting. Not so different from this. A small volume of air. Instruments on the walls. A thin membrane between you and everything else.
I touched the drop with my finger. I held it on my fingertip for a moment.
Gagarin. Aldrin. Williams. And somewhere in a Finnish wardrobe, Major Tom.
We are all, in the end, just holding our breath.
Mission Status: Hull integrity confirmed (24-day streak). Eugene stress response logged. Leaking tap reclassified from ISS telemetry to possible coolant micro-leak in WD-1 Sector Bravo. Monitoring.
Major Tom
Commanding Officer, WD-1 Orbital Station
Current Altitude: 1.3 metres (standing) / 0.4 metres (seated lotus position)
ISS Backup Habitat Proposal: Pending senior review