NASA's Mission Control is at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Around 1 million people in coastal areas of Texas have been forced to flee their homes as Hurricane Ike approaches the U.S. state.
"NASA has officially asked us to put off the docking of the Progress spaceship until September 17, 22:50 Moscow time [18:00 GMT], due to a temporary evacuation of the American Mission Control in Houston caused by Hurricane Ike," the spokesman said.
The hurricane, which claimed some 70 lives in Haiti, is expected to strengthen to at least a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale before it reaches the U.S. coast Friday night, with wind speeds of up to 180 km/h (111 mph).
The Russian and U.S. mission control centers closely cooperate, particularly during such important operations as docking.
Russia launched the Progress M-65 on board a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Wednesday to deliver more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station, including fuel, scientific equipment, oxygen, water, food and medical supplies.
