The Expedition 24 crew members aboard the International Space Station were busy with a variety of maintenance and science activities Wednesday as they orbited the Earth.

Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko tested the station's manual TORU docking system for Monday's relocation of the newly arrived Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft. The Soyuz will be moved to the Rassvet module, the newest component of the station, clearing the way for the arrival of the ISS Progress 38 cargo craft on July 2. With fellow Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker aboard, Fyodor Yurchikhin will undock the Soyuz TMA-19 from the Zarya module at 1:58 p.m. EDT and dock to Rassvet around 25 minutes later.

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi will end their stay on the International Space Station as Expedition 23 crew members on Tuesday. They will enter the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft and undock for the ride back to Earth and land in Kazakhstan.

Remaining behind will be new station commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko. Joining them in two weeks and beginning the Expedition 24 increment will be Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Shannon Walker. They will launch to their new home in space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 15 in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.

[img]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160328main_iss023e031302.jpg[/img] Image above: Attired in their Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, Commander Oleg Kotov (left) and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi conduct a standard suit leak check in the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft in preparation for the relocation of the Soyuz. Credit: NASA Three members of the Expedition 23 crew changed parking places at the International Space Station Wednesday, and in doing so, cleared the way for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis Friday on the STS-132 mission. With Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flanking him inside the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft, Station Commander Oleg Kotov undocked the return craft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module at 9:26 a.m. EDT, then flew the Soyuz over for a redocking at the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 9:53 a.m. The two docking ports are a little more than 80 feet apart in a straight line distance.

The ISS Progress 36 cargo ship undocked from the aft end of the Zvezda service module at 7:16 a.m. EDT Monday and fired its thrusters to move to a safe distance away from the International Space Station. Russian engineers will conduct systems tests with the craft until it is deorbited around July 1.

The six-member Expedition 23 crew observed the Russian Victory Day holiday with an off-duty day Friday. The three Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko.

The Soyuz TMA-17 will undock from the Zarya module's Earth-facing port on Wednesday. With Kotov at the controls, alongside fellow crew members Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi, the TMA-17 will redock to Zvezda's free aft end port. Zarya's port will then be available for the new Rassvet.

The ISS Progress 37 cargo carrier launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. EDT.

Scheduled to dock at the International Space Station Saturday, the unmanned Progress spaceship is loaded with 2.6 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, propellant and supplies for the Expedition 23 crew.

The Progress is similar in appearance and some design elements to the Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crew members to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. The aft module, the instrumentation and propulsion module, is nearly identical.

The unmanned ISS Progress 35 supply ship undocked from the Pirs docking compartment Thursday. Filled with trash and station discarded items, the Progress will be used for scientific experiments until it is deorbited and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere next week.

ISS Progress 35 arrived at the station Oct. 17 after launching Oct. 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Its departure clears the way for the ISS Progress 37 cargo ship that is scheduled to launch to the station April 28. ISS Progress 37 will bring to the station 1,918 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 220 pounds of water and 3,031 pounds of spare parts and experiment hardware.

Aboard the high-flying International Space Station, the Expedition 23 crew began a new week Monday with preparations for the imminent arrival of three additional crew members and the space shuttle Discovery, as well as the regular duties of orbital life.

The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft.

Discovery's STS-131 mission begins with the shuttle's scheduled launch on April 5 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery will deliver a multi-purpose logistics module, or MPLM, filled with science racks to be transferred to laboratories on the station. The shuttle is slated to dock with the station on April 7.

[img]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160328main_exp22_undock.jpg[/img] Image above: The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft carrying Expedition 22 crew members Jeff Williams and Maxim Suraev undocks from the Poisk module. Credit: NASA TV Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev have completed their mission aboard the International Space Station after 167 days. They parachuted to a landing in their Soyuz TMA-16 descent module at 7:24 a.m. EDT in Kazakhstan. Staying behind are Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer and new Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov. Expedition 23 officially began its increment when Williams and Suraev undocked at 4:03 a.m. from the Poisk Mini-Research Module. The trio, who will stay until June, joined Williams and Suraev after arriving in their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft in December 2009.

The Expedition 22 crew aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific research Tuesday while preparing for the departure of two of its members.

Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer worked on the Long Term Microgravity: A Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease with New Portable Equipment (Card) experiment that studies blood pressure decreases when the human body is exposed to microgravity. In order to increase the blood pressure to the level it was on Earth, salt is added to the crew members' diet. To monitor this, blood pressure readings are performed at different intervals during the mission.

[img]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160328main_p36.jpg[/img] Image above: The ISS Progress 36 cargo craft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Image Credit: Roscosmos The ISS Progress 36 (P36) unpiloted spacecraft launched at 10:45 p.m. EST Tuesday (9:45 a.m. Wednesday, Baikonur time), loaded with 1,940 pounds of propellant, 106 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 2,683 pounds of spare parts and supplies. On Thursday shortly before 11:30 p.m., P36 will dock automatically to the aft port of the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station using the Kurs docking system.