A Dutch astronaut has revealed he accidentally dialled 911 while orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

André Kuipers told Netherlands’ public broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting that he accidentally missed an important number when trying to make a long-distance call from outer space.

“If you’re in space, it’s like you’re making a call via Houston, first you dial the 9 for an outside line, and then 011 for an international line,” he said according to science and technology website Futurism.

Forgetting to dial 0, Kuipers accidentally set off an alarm at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“I made a mistake. The next day I received an email message: Did you call 911?” Kuipers said, before joking that he was “a little disappointed that they had not come up.”

It’s not the first time an astronaut has dialed the wrong number from the ISS.

In 2015, Britain’s first astronaut, Tim Peake, insisted he hadn’t prank-called an unsuspecting woman from space but had instead dialed the wrong number.

I'd like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake saying 'Hello, is this planet Earth?' - not a prank call...just a wrong number! — Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 24, 2015