Junk alert for space station crew

The crew had to move into the Russian Soyuz capsule

The crew of the International Space Station have been forced to enter the Russian Soyuz capsule to protect against a possible debris impact.

The crew are now out of danger and have returned to the station, Russian mission control have said.

Nasa said news of the debris threat had come too late for flight controllers to move the space station out of the way.

Officials said the move was a precaution and that the probability of an impact with the ISS had been low.

The astronauts were put on alert when the orbiting junk came within the ISS' avoidance zone.

"The crew have returned to the station. They are in absolutely no danger and the debris has already passed by the station," a spokesman for Russia's mission control said by telephone.

"They didn't even close the hatch between the station and the Soyuz and sat there for only about ten minutes. We do not know where the space debris was from."