ISS: Expedition 20A

Crew, launch- and landing data

Soyuz TMA-15 crew

Complet crew

Backup Crew

Mission details

• Padalka and Barratt where launched with Soyuz TMA-14. Wakata is onboard the ISS since Mar 17, 2009 (arrival with STS-119).
• Gennadiy Padalka (Commander, Russia), Mike Barratt (Flight Engineer 1, NASA), and Koichi Wakata (FE2, Japan-JAXA) were joined by Roman Romanenko (FE3, Russia), Frank DeWinne (FE4, European Space Agency) and Bob Thirsk (FE5, Canadian Space Agency) when Soyuz TMA-15 docked with the Station's Zarya nadir port at 1234 UTC on May 29, 2009 increasing the crew size to its operational level of six and beginning Expedition 20A. Soyuz TMA-14 and Progress M-02M are also docked to the Station.
• On Jun 5, 2009 astronauts Padalka and Barratt made Russian spacewalk VKD-22 (4h54m) in the new Orlan-MK spacesuits (Nos. 5 and 6 respectively) from the Pirs module. Depressurization of Pirs was complete around 07:36 UTC, with hatch open at 07:52 UTC. Barrett and Padalka added two Kurs rendezvous antennas to the exterior of Zvezda to get it ready for the arrival of a new docking module, the Maliy Issledovatel'skiy Modul'-2 (MIM-2, Mini Research Module 2). Also known as Stikovochniy Otsek 2 (SO-2, Docking Module 2), it is similar in design to the SO-1 Pirs module and will be launched attached to a Progress propulsion unit, Progress M-SO2 No. 302, later in 2009.
• On Jun 10, 2009 Russian spacewalk VKD-23 was carried out inside the Zvezda module (IVA - 0h12m). The front of Zvezda (the part docked to Zarya) is a spherical node (PKhO, Transfer Module) with multiple docking ports. The axial port is connected to Zarya; the zenith port of the Pirs airlock module is docked at Zvezda's radial nadir port, with Progress M-02M docked to Pirs' nadir. The ports which are in active use contain conical hatches used to receive the docking probes of visiting spacecraft; the axial docking cone used to receive Zarya is no longer needed as Zarya is firmly attached, but was still attached. The three remaining radial ports on the Zvezda node were closed off with flat cover plates. During the Jun 10 operation, astronauts Padalka and Barratt entered the node and closed the hatches to Zarya and to the main section of Zvezda. The node was depressurized starting at 06:22 UTC and completed by about 06:50 UTC. At 06:55 UTC the flat cover on the zenith hatch was removed, leaving the zenith port open to space. It was stowed on top of the Pirs hatch.
  At about 07:05 UTC the docking cone on the port docked to Zarya was removed and at 07:07 it was installed on the zenith port, closing it off to space again and preparing it for MIM-2/SO-2. The compartment was then repressurized at around 07:11 UTC; the depressurized work thus lasted about 21 minutes, but Russian officials count the spacewalk as lasting 12 minutes, the time for which the zenith hatch was open to space.
  
  

  Traditional in-flight photo ISS-20

  STS-127 arrives at the ISS

  
  
• The Progress M-02M cargo ship undocked at 1820 UTC on Jun 30, 2009.
• Padalka, Barratt and Wakata boarded TMA-14 on Jul 2, 2009 and undocked from the Zvezda aft port at 21:29 UTC, redocking at Pirs at 21:55 UTC. Soyuz TMA-15 is docked at Zarya nadir.
• On Jul 12, 2009 at around 16:00 UTC Progress M-02M returned to the Station and carried out a close approach to the newly active zenith docking port on Zvezda to test the rendezvous equipment installed on the port in recent spacewalks. Progress M-02M approached to a distance of about 10m at 17:07 UTC and then returned to an independent orbit. The next day, at 15:43 UTC on Jul 13, the cargo ship fired its engines to reenter over the southern Pacific Ocean.
• Kopra arrived on Jul 17, 2009 with STS-127.