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Hurricane Ike delays Progress docking

Hurricane Ike has delayed yesterday's scheduled arrival of a Russian Progress cargo ship to the International Space Station, orbiting 220 miles above Earth.

The Progress docking was postponed when space station mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston closed Thursday due to the approaching storm.

Control of the space station was handed to flight controllers at backup facilities near Austin, Texas, and Huntsville, Alabama.

Since Mission Control Center in Houston is solely responsible for some commanding of station systems, U.S. and Russian officials agreed to delay the docking.

Russian flight controllers will execute a maneuver to place the spacecraft into a safe orbit away from the station until docking, which is planned for Wednesday, September 17.

If Johnson is not restored to full capability for docking, one of the backup facilities may be used to command station systems.

Station Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko RN3DX and Greg Chamitoff KD5PKZ are awaiting the arrival of the cargo ship, which is carrying more than 2 tons of supplies including a new shipment of food and fuel.