Expedition 20 mission patch Front Row: Frank De Winne, Gennady Padalka, Roman Romanenko Back Row: Robert Thirsk, Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott, Timothy Kopra, Koichi Wakata
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.[1]
Soyuz TMA-15 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:34 UTC on 27 May 2009.[1] The vehicle docked with the station on 29 May 2009, officially changing the Soyuz TMA-14 crew from Expedition 19 to Expedition 20.[2]
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.[3]
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.[7][8]
Expedition 20 EVA 2
Gennady Padalka Michael R. Barratt
10 June 2009 6:55
10 June 2009 7:07
12 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.[9][10]
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.[11]
The Expedition 20 crew lands in Arkalyk, Kazakhstan
