A US Air Force flight to Antarctica was forced to turn back to Christchurch Airport after being warned about “potentially hazardous” Russian “space activity”.

The C-17 Globemaster took off from Christchurch Airport about 9am on Tuesday headed for McMurdo Station, using the call sign ICE28.

But flight-tracking website, Flightradar24, shows the plane landed back at the airport at 11.29am.

The U-turn over the Southern Ocean followed a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) from the Civil Aviation Authority, which is used to alert aircraft operators to hazards and allow them to make operational decisions.

The notice was for “space activity, potentially hazardous to aviation en route to Antarctica”.

The CAA issued the notice “to alert aircraft operators to the potential hazard”.

It is not clear what type of space activity was involved.

“This does not prevent aircraft from flying through the area, operators make their decisions based on the information available,” the CAA told Stuff.

-Allied Media