Using a robotic arm and a high-tech railcar, astronauts aboard the International Space Station finished moving a storage platform Tuesday, beginning a busy two weeks aboard the complex that include a spacewalk and relocations of a Soyuz lifeboat and a docking adapter.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov works with Orlan spacesuits aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

The upcoming work will prep the station for next month's mission of shuttle Endeavour, outfit a new module as a docking port and airlock, and make room for new equipment to be launched later this year, according to Pete Hasbrook, Expedition 22 increment manager.

"This month coming up is going to be characterized by a lot of dynamic robotic operations [and] a lot of vehicle traffic," said David Korth, Expedition 22 lead flight director.

On Monday, station flight engineeers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi grappled External Stowage Platform No. 3 from a position on the port side of the outpost's backbone truss.

The external storage depot holds a spare antenna, pump module, and backup robotic equipment.

The platform was transferred down the station's backbone on a robotic railcar called the mobile transporter, and astronauts commanded the arm to move the pallet to a position on the lower part of the starboard truss on Tuesday.

Moving the storage platform clears the way for an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier scheduled for installation this summer, according to NASA.

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Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Maxim Suraev will stage a six-hour spacewalk Thursday morning to configure the newly-arrived Poisk module as a docking port and retrieve an Biorisk experiment package from the station's exterior.

On Jan. 21, Suraev and space station commander Jeff Williams will climb into the Soyuz spacecraft on the aft end of the Zvezda service module, undock and relocate the capsule to the Poisk docking port on top side of the complex.

Astronauts will again take control of the robot arm Jan. 23 to move a U.S. docking part called Pressurized Mating Adapter No. 3 from the port side of the Unity module to the space-facing berthing location on Node 2, or the Harmony module.

That operation will clear room for the Tranquility module, or Node 3, to be attached to the port side of Unity during Endeavour's mission next month, Hasbrook said.

The next Progress resupply ship is scheduled to launch to the station on Feb. 3 at 0345 GMT (10:45 p.m. EST on Feb. 2) with more than 3,000 pounds of cargo.

Endeavour is due to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center with Tranquility on Feb. 7.

"It's an exciting time and a very, very busy time for the crew on space station, as well as all the international partners on the ground," Korth said.