With the impending launch of the STS-128 space shuttle mission slated for early Tuesday morning, the International Space Station's Expedition 20 crew spent Monday working on its regular science and maintenance activities and preparing for the shuttle's arrival.

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Roman Romanenko performed some regular maintenance activities in the station's Russian segment. Padalka cleaned fan screens in the docking compartment, and Romanenko did some work on the segment's life support system.

Flight Engineer Mike Barratt worked on the Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) experiment. LOCAD uses small cartridges and a handheld device to detect the presence of bacteria. Later, Barratt did some maintenance work on spacesuit water tanks. He also participated in an amateur radio session with students at Tenison Woods College in Mount Gambier, South Australia.

[img]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160328main_iss020e031126.jpg[/img] Image above: Expedition 20 flight engineers Frank De Winne (left), Tim Kopra (foreground) and Michael Barratt work in the Unity node of the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA As the Expedition 20 crew members continue making preparations for a visit by space shuttle Discovery next week, they tackled a variety of science experiments aboard the International Space Station Wednesday. Discovery, targeted to launch Aug. 25 on the STS-128 mission, is carrying more than seven tons of supplies, science racks and equipment including the COLBERT treadmill, an exercise device named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

The International Space Station's Expedition 20 crew is preparing for a busy period over the next few months.

› Consolidated Launch Manifest http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html

Targeted to launch Aug. 24, space shuttle Discovery will deliver a new station crew member and science racks. The cargo-carrying Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is scheduled to launch Sept. 10. A new station docking port, the Russian Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM-2), will be delivered on a Russian Soyuz that is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Nov. 10.

Preparations began aboard the International Space Station Monday for September's scheduled arrival of the new Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV. Expedition 20 flight engineers Mike Barratt and Frank De Winne took part in computer-based training for the HTV's rendezvous with the orbital outpost. The HTV is slated to launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) launch site at Tanegashima Island, Japan on Sept. 10 for an automated rendezvous with the station. Canadarm2 will be used to grapple the craft and berth it to the nadir, or Earth-facing, port of the Harmony module for a month's stay.

Robotics training and unloading cargo were the order of the day Tuesday for the Expedition 20 crew of the International Space Station.

Flight engineers Mike Barratt and Frank De Winne worked in the Kibo module with a training simulator to practice using the space station's robotic arm. On Friday, the crew will use Canadarm2 to grapple and unberth Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 from the nadir port on Unity node and relocate it to the port common berthing mechanism. This move is a step in preparation for next year's installation of the new Tranquility Node 3 and the Cupola to be delivered by the STS-130 space shuttle crew.

Aboard the orbiting International Space Station, the Expedition 20 crew began its week Monday by unloading the ISS Progress 34 resupply ship and performing station maintenance after successfully completing a repair to the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) late last week.

The CDRA stopped working Wednesday night. The problem occurred when it was shut down to reconfigure it from a special configuration setup for the shuttle mission. Efforts to turn the system back on failed. Flight Engineers Mike Barratt and Robert Thirsk worked Thursday and Friday to replace a heater controller and to isolate a heater element that was found to have a short in it. Late Friday night, the CDRA was reactivated and the maintenance work had done the trick, restoring full operation to the CO2 removal system in the U.S. segment. It continues to operate without issue.

A new ISS Progress 34 (P34) cargo craft docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module Wednesday at 7:12 a.m. EDT carrying 2 ½ tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station crew.

› View docking video at http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/wm.nasa-global/expedition20/p34_do...

The day before at 1:26 p.m. space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the station completing 11 days of cargo transfers and the construction of Japan's Kibo laboratory.

› Read the latest STS-127 news at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/index.html

The P34 originally launched July 24 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan beginning a five-day chase to the station while the STS-127 and Expedition 20 crews conducted joint operations.

[img]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160328main_undock.jpg[/img] Image above: The shadow of space shuttle Endeavour can be seen on the International Space Station's solar arrays shortly after undocking. Photo credit: NASA TV The crews of Endeavour and the International Space Station parted company today at 1:26 p.m EDT, with all of the docked mission's objectives complete. The Expedition 20 crew on the station lost one crew member and gained another. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Astronaut Koichi Wakata will be returning home on Endeavour after four months as a member of the Expedition 18, 19 and 20 crews. The station's newest NASA flight engineer, Tim Kopra, arrived aboard Endeavour.

The Progress 34 cargo ship launched on time today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:56:56 a.m. EDT (4:56:56 p.m. Baikonur time) to begin its five-day journey to the International Space Station. Less than 9 minutes later, the unpiloted cargo ship reached orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas. Two rendezvous burns of the Progress engines are scheduled today and another burn is planned for tomorrow to fine-tune the Progress' path to the ISS.

At the time of launch, the shuttle/station complex and its 13 crew members were flying 218 statute miles over Sapporo, Japan.

The Expedition 20 and STS-127 crews continued their joint operations Tuesday. The combined efforts of both crews were successful in installing the Japanese Logistics Module-Exposed Section using two robotic arms.

STS-127 Commander Mark Polansky and mission specialist Julie Payette operated the robotic arm aboard the space shuttle to pass the platform from Endeavour to Canadarm2 on the space station. Canadarm2 was operated by STS-127 mission specialist Koichi Wakata and shuttle pilot Doug Hurley.

The Japanese robotic arm on the station will be used Thursday to take experiments from that Exposed Section and install them on the new porch of the Kibo laboratory.