Hurricane Ike fears lead NASA to close Johnson Space Center

by Stevie Smith - Sep 12 2008, 12:15

U.S. space administration NASA has been forced to delay the scheduled docking of a Russian Progress cargo ship at the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) due to the prospect of untimely local interference from Hurricane Ike. The docking was due to take place at 4:00pm CDT on Friday.

In light of the approaching storm and the potential disruption it could bring with it, both NASA and Russian officials agreed on Thursday that the best decision would be to temporarily postpone the docking procedure.

Further to that, NASA officials opted to close Mission Control at Houston’s Johnson Space Center and relocate mission-critical flight controllers to secondary facilities located near Austin, Texas and Huntsville, Alabama.

In processing the docking delay, Russian flight controllers associated with the mission will now manoeuvre the Progress cargo ship away from the International Space Station and set it in a safe orbit until Hurricane Ike’s attentions are deemed to have passed.

Currently, the revised mission schedule should see the Progress successfully docked on Wednesday, September 17. NASA has said that if, at that time, Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center has not been fully restored, the docking could be controlled from one of the secondary stations.

ISS crew members currently awaiting the arrival of the Progress ship’s two tons of supplies, including food and fuel, are Station Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko and Greg Chamitoff.

Those wishing to watch the Progress and International Space Station meet, as they orbit 220 miles above the Earth, can do so through NASA Television, which plans to broadcast the docking.

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