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Expedition 20

Long-duration mission to the International Space Station


Long-duration mission to the International Space Station

FieldValue
nameExpedition 20
imageExpedition 20 crew poster.jpg
image_captionPromotional Poster
insigniaISS Expedition 20 Patch.svg
insignia_captionExpedition 20 mission patch
mission_typeLong-duration expedition
mission_duration5 Months
crew_size8
crew_membersGennady Padalka*
Michael Barratt*
Koichi Wakata* (May–July)
Timothy Kopra (July–August)
Nicole Stott† (August–October)
Frank De Winne†
Roman Romanenko†
Robert Thirsk†
* – transferred from Expedition 19
† – transferred to Expedition 21
crew_EVAs2
crew_EVA_duration5 hours, 6 minutes
crew_photoThe ISS Expedition 20.jpg
crew_photo_captionFront Row: Frank De Winne, Gennady Padalka, Roman Romanenko
Back Row: Robert Thirsk, Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott, Timothy Kopra, Koichi Wakata
space_stationInternational Space Station
start_dateUTC
end_date
arrival_craftExp 19/20: Soyuz TMA-14
Exp 20/21: Soyuz TMA-15
Wakata: STS-119
Kopra: STS-127
Stott: STS-128
departure_craftExp 19/20: Soyuz TMA-14
Exp 20/21: Soyuz TMA-15
Wakata: STS-127
Kopra: STS-128
Stott: STS-129
previous_missionExpedition 19
next_missionExpedition 21
programmeISS expeditions

Michael Barratt* Koichi Wakata* (May–July) Timothy Kopra (July–August) Nicole Stott† (August–October) Frank De Winne† Roman Romanenko† Robert Thirsk†

  • – transferred from Expedition 19 † – transferred to Expedition 21 Back Row: Robert Thirsk, Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott, Timothy Kopra, Koichi Wakata

Exp 20/21: Soyuz TMA-15 Wakata: STS-119

Kopra: STS-127

Stott: STS-128

Exp 20/21: Soyuz TMA-15 Wakata: STS-127

Kopra: STS-128

Stott: STS-129

Expedition 20 was the 20th long-duration flight to the International Space Station. The expedition marked the first time a six-member crew inhabited the station. Because each Soyuz-TMA spacecraft could hold only three people, two separate launches were necessary: Soyuz TMA-14 launched on 26 March 2009, and Soyuz TMA-15 followed on 27 May 2009.

Soyuz TMA-15 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:34 UTC on 27 May 2009. The vehicle docked with the station on 29 May 2009, officially changing the Soyuz TMA-14 crew from Expedition 19 to Expedition 20.

Gennady Padalka was the first commander of a six-member station crew, and the first commander of two consecutive expeditions (Expedition 19 and 20). Nicole Stott was the final expedition astronaut to be launched on the shuttle.

During the expedition, Koichi Wakata performed a special experiment wherein he did not change his underpants for one month, in order to test a specially designed underwear without washing or changing; he reportedly did not develop body odor due to the effects of the special garment.

The station would not be permanently occupied by six crew members all year. For example, when the Expedition 20 crew (Roman Romanenko, Frank De Winne and Bob Thirsk) returned to Earth in November 2009, for a period of about two weeks only two crew members (Jeff Williams and Max Surayev) were aboard. This increased to five in early December, when Oleg Kotov, Timothy Creamer and Soichi Noguchi arrived on Soyuz TMA-17. It decreased to three when Williams and Surayev departed in March 2010, and finally returned to six in April 2010 with the arrival of Soyuz TMA-18, carrying Aleksandr Skvortsov, Mikhail Korniyenko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson.

Crew

url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/nov/HQ_08-306_Expedition_crews.htmltitle=NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numberingaccess-date=21 November 2008publisher=NASAyear=2008author=NASA HQarchive-date=17 April 2012archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417221108/http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/nov/HQ_08-306_Expedition_crews.htmlurl-status=dead}}First Part
(May to July 2009)Second Part
(July to August 2009)Third Part
(August to October 2009)CommanderFlight Engineer 1Flight Engineer 2Flight Engineer 3Flight Engineer 4Flight Engineer 5
RUS Gennady Padalka, RSA
Third spaceflight
USA Michael Barratt, NASA
First spaceflight
BEL Frank De Winne, ESA
Second and last spaceflight
RUS Roman Romanenko, RSA
First spaceflight
CAN Robert Thirsk, CSA
Second and last spaceflight
JPN Koichi Wakata, JAXA
Third spaceflightUSA Timothy Kopra, NASA
First spaceflightUSA Nicole Stott, NASA
First spaceflight

Backup crew

  • RUS Maksim Surayev, Commander
  • USA Jeff Williams
  • USA Timothy Creamer
  • USA Catherine Coleman
  • NED André Kuipers
  • RUS Dimitri Kondratyev
  • CAN Chris Hadfield

Extra-vehicular activity

**Mission****Spacewalkers****Start (UTC)****End (UTC)****Duration**
Expedition 20
EVA 1
Gennady Padalka
Michael R. Barratt5 June 2009
7:525 June 2009
12:464 hours, 54 minutes
Prepared the *Zvezda* service module transfer compartment for the arrival of the *Poisk* module, installed docking antenna for the module, photographed antenna for evaluation on the ground, and photographed the Strela-2 crane.
Expedition 20
EVA 2
Gennady Padalka
Michael R. Barratt10 June 2009
6:5510 June 2009
7:0712 minutes
Internal spacewalk in the depressurised *Zvezda* transfer compartment, to replace one of the *Zvezda* hatches with a docking cone, in preparation for the docking of the *Poisk* module later in 2009. *Poisk* docked automatically to the zenith port of *Zvezda* on 12 November 2009, and serves as an additional docking port for Russian vehicles.

‡ denotes spacewalks performed from the Pirs docking compartment in Russian Orlan suits.

On 3 July 2009 expedition members undocked the Soyuz TMA-14 craft from the aft port of the Zvezda service module and piloted it over to the Pirs docking compartment. This was done to clear the way for the arrival of a Progress supply craft.

File:Expedition 20 Lands.jpg File:Expedition 20 Comes Home.jpg

References

References

  1. NASA HQ. (24 May 2009). "Expedition 20 Crew Launches from Baikonur". NASA.
  2. NASA HQ. (29 May 2009). "Expedition 20 Crew Docks with Space Station". NASA.
  3. (31 July 2009). "Astronaut wore pants for a month". BBC News.
  4. (10 April 2009). "International Space Station Expeditions". NASA.
  5. NASA. (2008). "International Space Station". NASA.
  6. NASA HQ. (2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA.
  7. William Harwood for CBS News. (5 June 2009). "Successful spacewalk ends". Spaceflightnow.com.
  8. NASA. (March 2009). "Expedition 20 Press Kit". NASA.
  9. David Korth, Expedition 20 Spacewalk Flight Director. (4 June 2009). "Expedition 20 Spacewalk Briefing Materials". NASA.
  10. (10 June 2009). "Russian "Internal" Spacewalk Complete". NASA.
  11. (3 July 2009). "Station Crew Completes Soyuz Move". spacefellowship.com.
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