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[b]Soyuz TMA-20 launches to the space station[/b] Soyuz TMA-20 lifted off at 1:09 p.m. CST on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Roscomos cosmonaut Dmitry "Dima" Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Caterine "Cady" Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli are on their way to International Space Station (ISS). They will dock to the station's Rassvet mini-research module Friday afternoon. After hatch opening the crew will participate in a traditional greeting ceremony, talk to family and officials on the ground and then be briefed on station safety procedures. The current station residents, Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly and flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, have been living and working on the space station since Oct. 9. They are scheduled to end their stay in March when they land in Kazakhstan aboard Soyuz TMA-01M. During Expedition 26, the six crew members will continue scientific research, perform station maintenance and welcome several visiting vehicles. Kondratyev and Skripochka will conduct two spacewalks, which are scheduled for Jan. 21 and late February. They will install an antenna to complete an information transfer system that sends large computer files to and from the station. The spacewalkers also will perform work on the outside of the Russian station modules. In addition to shuttle Discovery's planned visit during the STS-133 mission in February, the Expedition 26 crew is expecting the arrival of three resupply vehicles in January and February. The second Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle, called Kounotori, or white stork, is scheduled to launch Jan. 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. It will be attached robotically to the Earth-facing docking port on the station's Harmony module on Jan. 27. The second ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle, named for famed mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, is scheduled to launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on Feb. 15. It will dock to the aft port of the Zvezda service module on Feb. 26. The Russian Progress 41 resupply craft is scheduled to launch from Baikonur on Jan. 28 and dock to the Pirs docking compartment on Jan. 31. The three new Expedition 26 crew members will officially become the Expedition 27 crew when Kelly, Kaleri, and Skripochka undock and return home. Kondratyev, Coleman, and Nespoli are scheduled to complete their stay in May.
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