Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev will open the hatch to Progress, when leak checks are completed later today. The crew begins unloading cargo this weekend.

The Progress holds 1,940 pounds of propellant for the station's Russian thrusters; 183 pounds of back up oxygen and air for the Russian Elektron system; and 463 pounds of water to augment onboard supplies. More than 3,000 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware, life support components and holiday gifts round out the cargo.

The Progress that arrived Sept. 10 will remain docked until early March. The crew will stow trash in it, and on Dec. 31, use the remaining 43 kilograms (94.6 pounds) of oxygen in the craft's tanks to replenish station cabin pressure.

On Saturday, McArthur and Tokarev plan to document various experiments in both the U.S. and Russian station modules. They will celebrate Christmas talking with their families, viewing Earth from orbit and dining on packaged Russian foods. The meal includes fish, meat dishes, vegetables and pastries.

Earlier in the week, McArthur and Tokarev conducted routine servicing of environmental systems and filters and continued biomedical experiments. McArthur inspected seals around the hatches of the U.S. modules and down linked educational videos.

The videos explained the differences between U.S. and Russian spacesuits; demonstrated how materials are recycled on orbit; and how the principles of Newton's Laws of Motion affect life and work in the absence of gravity.

McArthur also operated the Capillary Flow-Contact Line and Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3) experiments. Capillary flow is the key process used to move fluids in a microgravity environment. The Contact Line portion examines the interface between the liquid and solid surface of the container. The experiment investigates capillary and fluid flows in containers with complex shapes. Results could be used by designers of low gravity fluid systems in future spacecraft. BCAT-3 examines the behavior of particles suspended in liquids in microgravity with potential future commercial applications.

The Elektron oxygen-generation system in the Zvezda module remains up and running on its primary pump. It will be shut down on Dec. 28, and the crew will burn solid fuel oxygen generation candles for two days to recertify the system.

McArthur discussed life and work on the station with newspaper reporters from his home state of North Carolina. He also spoke about his mission with students from the Carman Park Elementary School in Flint, Mich.

On Christmas Day, Tokarev will have a ham radio discussion with operators at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. The purpose is to honor cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov, who died on Christmas Day one year ago at age 64. Strekalov was a veteran of five spaceflights.

related report
Progress With Gifts, Equipment and Supplies Docks at Station Houston (SPX) Dec 27 -- An unpiloted Progress cargo craft docked with the International Space Station Friday at 2:46 p.m. EST with a cargo of supplies, equipment and fuel for the orbiting laboratory.

The new cargo carrier is the 20th Progress to dock at the station. Among its more than 2.8 tons of cargo are Christmas presents for station Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev.

The presents won't come down the chimney. They'll come up through the Pirs Docking Compartment, where Progress 20 docked. Pirs is attached to an Earth-facing port of the Zvezda Service Module.

Image at right: ISS Progress 20 docks with the space station Credit: NASA TV

Tokarev was ready to take over control of the Progress using a manual docking system, but his intervention was not needed. The automated docking system brought the cargo carrier to Pirs smoothly and accurately.

The Progress launched toward the International Space Station Wednesday at 1:38 p.m. EST. It reached orbit about 10 minutes after launch, and its solar arrays and antennas were deployed as planned.

With the Soyuz that brought the Expedition 12 crew to the station and will take them home, Progress 20 brings to three the number of Russian vehicles at the station.

Its sister and predecessor at the station, Progress 19, will remain docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. Generally a Progress is undocked and deorbited shortly before the launch of the next Progress, to clear that docking port for the new arrival.

In this case, mission managers have decided that Progress 19 will stay at the station so its remaining oxygen can be transferred. That also will give station crewmembers a chance to fill it completely with garbage and unneeded equipment. It will re-enter and burn in the Earth's atmosphere shortly after its undocking, scheduled for early March.

The Progress 20 cargo weighs about 5,680 pounds. It comprises 1,940 pounds of propellant, 183 pounds of oxygen and air, 463 pounds of water and almost 3,100 pounds of dry cargo.

In addition to Christmas presents, the dry cargo consists of equipment and supplies, experiment hardware, spare parts for the station, repair gear and life support system hardware.

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