Expedition 20 Welcomes STS-127 Crew Aboard Station

(NASA) – Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Michael Barratt, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency and Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency welcomed the STS-127 crew aboard the station at 3:48 p.m. EDT. The STS-127 crew arrived at the station when space shuttle Endeavour docked at 1:47 p.m.

One of the first major tasks is the station crew rotation. STS-127 Mission Specialist Tim Kopra will switch places with Wakata. Wakata will be returning home aboard Endeavour after more than four months aboard the station.

The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory. The astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.

STS-127 is the 129th shuttle mission to visit the station.

The Expedition 20 and STS-127 crews greet each other after the hatches between the two vehicles were opened. Credit: NASA TV