Expedition 20
| Mission type | ISS Expedition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission duration | 5 Months | ||||
| Expedition | |||||
| Space Station | International Space Station | ||||
| Began | 29 May 2009, 12:34 UTC | ||||
| Ended | 11 October 2009 | ||||
| Arrived aboard | Exp 19/20: Soyuz TMA-14 Exp 20/21: Soyuz TMA-15 Wakata: STS-119 Space Shuttle Discovery Kopra: STS-127 Space Shuttle Endeavour Stott: STS-128 Space Shuttle Discovery |
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| Departed aboard | Exp 19/20: Soyuz TMA-14 Exp 20/21: Soyuz TMA-15 Wakata: STS-127 Space Shuttle Endeavour Kopra: STS-128 Space Shuttle Discovery Stott: STS-129 Space Shuttle Atlantis |
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| Crew | |||||
| Crew size | 6 | ||||
| Members |
Gennady 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 |
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| EVAs | 2 | ||||
| EVA duration | 5 hours, 6 minutes | ||||
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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.
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.
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