Hurricane Ike delays cargo for space outpost
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian and U.S. space agencies on Friday decided to delay a cargo shipment from docking at the International Space Station after Hurricane Ike forced the evacuation of the mission's control centre in Texas.
Official from the two agencies said the operation will proceed next Wednesday, four days after the original date.
"They (U.S. space agency NASA) have evacuated their Houston-based mission control and asked us to shift the time of the docking," Valery Lyndin, spokesman for Russia's Mission Control, said by telephone from Korolyov, outside Moscow.
"Apparently our American partners have some technical concerns, and of course spaceships are not this kind of area where you should rely on the off-chance. So, it's better to ensure ourselves against any risks."
Hundreds of thousands of people fled coastal areas in the path of Hurricane Ike in Texas on Friday, as the storm gathered strength, menacing Houston, the fourth-most populous U.S. city and hub of the oil industry.
Lyndin said the Progress M-65 cargo ship would now dock the ISS at 2250 Moscow time (7:50 p.m. British time) on Wednesday. The ship, launched from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, had been originally due to dock at the space outpost at 0100 Moscow time on Saturday (10:00 p.m. British time on Friday).
NASA said control of the ISS had been handed to flight controllers at back-up facilities near Austin, Texas, and Huntsville, Alabama, after the space station's control room at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was closed on Thursday.
"If Johnson's control center is not restored to full capability for docking, one of the backup facilities may be used to command the station's systems," NASA said on its official website www.nasa.gov.
Lyndin said Progress M-65 would deliver some 2.5 tonnes of food, water, fuel and gifts to the ISS from the crew's relatives and loved ones. The cargo also includes a new, Russian-designed Orlan-MK space suit which is fully computerised.
The orbital outpost is currently manned by Russian station commander Sergei Volkov, Russian flight engineer Oleg Kononenko and U.S. flight engineer Greg Chamitoff.
(Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
