The gas permeability of 11 ordinary chondrites was measured at various gas pressures (0.5‐2.5 bars) under confining pressures up to 120 bars. The gas permeability ranges from less than a nanodarcy to a few millidarcies. There is a positive correlation between the permeability and the porosity. The permeability decreased by as much as 50% when the confining pressure was increased from 10 to 100 bars, suggesting that the permeability of some chondrites is partly due to cracks. A linear relation between gas flow pressure dependence and confining pressure dependence of the gas permeability is observed, suggesting that on average, crack apertures are larger than pore spaces. The permeability of heavily‐shocked chondrites is less than that of mildly shocked chondrites. Using the measured permeability data we estimated the size of a possible shocked‐chondrite precursor