Washington  - The crew of the International Space Station prepared for a possible evacuation on Thursday after ground controllers determined that a piece of space junk was within range for a possible collision.

The crew had entered a Soyuz evacuation capsule and closed the hatches in case they were required to quickly undock from the station.

A piece of a satellite had entered an area that requires astronauts to take precautions, but the information came too late for ISS to attempt to avoid the debris.

The debris was expected to pass by without hitting the station, and the crew was planning to exit the Soyuz module after it had passed. dpa