14 DAY TRIAL // If you think fungus is a problem at your house, image what it's like in space. The ISS may seem huge, but it's rather cramped, and the six astronauts aboard don't have a lot of breathing room.
They also don't have too many options in disinfecting the space station if something happens, and they can't exactly walk out or open a window.
So the best way to prevent problems like this is to make sure that contaminants don't end up on the Space Station in the first place.
Everything that's sent up via the resupply ships is checked and triple checked, as well as disinfected, before it's sealed off in the ship.
Still, problems can happen. The automated ATV 4 "Albert Einstein" spent a day docked to the ISS without being opened, as officials were worried about mold on some of the packages.
Russian officials in particular were worried about some problems with the documentation the Europeans provided. The issues were eventually fixed and the supply ship's hatch opened on June 18.