Some out-of-this-world work is being done Wednesday on the International Space Station, all in preparation for launching astronauts from U.S. soil on missions to the orbiting outpost.

Making way for U.S. commercial crews and cargo vehicles to dock at the space station will take some very careful reconfiguring Wednesday.

NASA will use the station's robotic arm to detach a Permanent Multipurpose Module — or PMM — and move it toward the Tranquility module.


(PHOTO/NASA)

This will do two things: It will free up enough space to convert the area it's taking up to become the primary and the backup docking port for U.S. commercial crew spacecraft in development by Boeing and SpaceX.

The two companies are hoping to launch astronauts from U.S. soil by 2017.

 

Launch Schedule

See the next rocket launch from the Space Coast

 

Getting the docking ports ready is very important, so commercial spacecraft can deliver not only people, but also research, supplies and cargo for the crew.

The PMM is about 22 feet long, and on Earth, it would weigh about 11 tons.

Astronauts will open the hatch to its new location Thursday, and more work for this conversion will be done later this year.