NASA STS-127 Report #13 4:30 p.m. CDT Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The combined efforts of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour crews were successful in installing the Japanese Logistics Module-Exposed Section using two robotic arms.

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 mission specialist Koichi Wakata and shuttle pilot Doug Hurley.

The Japanese Exposed Section was installed at about 9:30 a.m. 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.

Astronauts Dave Wolf and Chris Cassidy began preparations for their spacewalk Wednesday, which is scheduled to begin at 9:58 a.m. Wolf and Cassidy changed out a series of spacesuit batteries to prepare for their spacewalk.

Tonight they will sleep in the airlock where they will adjust to a lower pressure, going from 14.7 psi to 10 psi, to adapt for the conditions in their spacesuit. This spacewalk will be the third spacewalk of the mission and will focus on the installation of four of the six Port 6 (P6) Truss batteries.

Polansky, Hurley, Payette and Wolf took time to answer questions posed by visitors on YouTube and Twitter. Polansky is providing regular updates on the mission’s progress from space via Twitter at http://twitter.com/Astro_127.

Tim Kopra continued with his familiarization of the space station, having recently replaced Wakata as an Expedition 20 Flight Engineer.

Both crews enjoyed off-duty time throughout their afternoon in space.

The space station crew goes to sleep about 9:30 p.m., followed 30 minutes later by the shuttle crew. The next mission status report will be issued following crew wake up, or earlier if events warrant.