NASA was forced to close down the Johnson Space Center on Thursday, under the threat of Category 2 Hurricane Ike. According to the agency, the International Space Station Control Room at Mission Control in Houston was shut down Thursday morning, while the backup teams near Austin, Texas and Huntsville, Ala. carried on the station flight control.

Furthermore, most NASA aircraft at Ellington Field, located north of Johnson Space Center, has been moved to an El Paso facility. Among them, 19 of 26 T-38s, a WB-57 and 3 of 4 shuttle training aircraft arrived at the El Paso facility, NASA revealed. The rest of nine aircraft undergoes maintenance and has been secured at Ellington.

Hurricane Ike is a large tropical cyclone, with winds stretching out 115 miles from its center. On September 11, the predictions showed Ike heading for the coast, which it was expected to reach by late Friday.

NASA was also forced to delay the docking of the Russian Progress supply ship, which was supposed to take place on Friday. “The Russians and [NASA] came to an agreement today to postpone docking until Wednesday,” John Yembrick, NASA spokesman, told MSBNC. The Russian ship will remain into orbit until it receives clearance for docking next week.

Hurricane Ike also prompted NASA to postpone the STS-125 Flight Readiness Review, which was supposed to take place on Thursday and Friday. The STS-125 crew was directed toward the Kennedy Space Center, where it is expected to arrive on Sept. 21 for launch rehearsal training.