A Nasa astronaut has said it was “not a great feeling” when he and his crew mates were ordered to prepare for a possible evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS) during an attempt to fix an air leak. Recalling the incident during a news conference at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, Mr Williams said: “That was certainly a very unusual day on station. During his time in space, Mr Williams completed 3,856 orbits of the Earth and travelled a mammoth 102 million miles. He also completed two spacewalks to prepare for space station power system upgrades and to replace a faulty joint on a robotic arm. Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the US cooperate on the space station and other projects.