A Russian satellite disintegrated, scattering more than 100 pieces of debris into orbit overnight, reports "Reuters".
This forced the astronauts on the International Space Station to seek shelter.
The reasons for the disintegration of the Russian Earth observation satellite RESURS-P1, which was decommissioned in 2022, are not yet known.
According to NASA, the accident occurred in orbit near the International Space Station. The American astronauts on board had to hide in their spacecraft for about an hour.
U.S. radars detected the satellite scattering multiple debris in low Earth orbit Wednesday night and early this morning.
The US Space Command indicated that "over 100 pieces of trackable debris" had come off the satellite.