HOUSTON, Nov. 28  -- The crew of the U. S. space shuttle Endeavour is back in the spacecraft, facing a Friday departure from the International Space Station, NASA said.

After a freeze-dried Thanksgiving dinner Thursday and a round of good-byes to their comrades aboard the space station, the hatches between the shuttle and the orbiting scientific research facility were closed at closed at 7:31 p. m. EST, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported. Undocking is scheduled for 9:47 a. m. Friday, with the final separation burn at 12:14 p. m.

The STS-126 mission's main purpose was to bring new amenities, including a second toilet, a refrigeration system and a urine recycling machine, to the station and install them.

Houston  - More than 1,000 rescue personnel Monday intensified their feverish search for survivors and dead bodies in Texas after the death toll rose to 30 from Hurricane Ike.

Televised images showed the barrier island community of Bolivar, next door to Galveston, nearly wiped out, with only cement slabs or free-standing stilts remaining from one-time homes. An estimated 80 per cent of the town was washed away, CNN reported.

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Houston - Hurricane Ike continued battering northern regions of Texas with 145-kilometre-an-hour winds Saturday, even as residents of the coast and Houston started a cautious survey of the damage after the storm had moved through.

There were three reported deaths, including a young boy killed by a falling tree as his family tried to clean up damage after the storm had passed, CNN reported.

Houston  - The lethal hurricane bearing down on the Texas coast has sent 1.2 million people fleeing for safety as Ike threatens with 16- metre breakers and 7-metre flooding, Texas Governor Rick Perry said Friday.

The evacuation included 12,500 seriously ill or elderly people, Perry told CNN broadcaster.

"The evacuation went relatively well," he said.

Hurricane Ike is now a huge category-2 storm that could strengthen to category 3 by the time it slams into the Gulf Coast and Galveston between 0200 and 0600 GMT.

Houston  - About 1,000 inmates on Friday remained in a jail on Galveston Island, a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico that Hurricane Ike is expected to hit first.

The prisoners and a full staff stayed in the Galveston County Jail as huge waves started rolling over the island, with Ike expected to make landfall between 0200 and 0600 GMT Saturday morning.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered a mandatory evacuation of Galveston on Thursday.