Chiao began the effort Tuesday and reported today he has completed pre-packing all U.S. hardware identified for return. He and Sharipov are working together to do the same for the appropriate Russian hardware. Chiao also completed an inventory of food supplies.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips will be on board the Station when Discovery arrives. They will work with the STS-114 crew to stow the return items after supplies and equipment have been transferred. The Expedition 10 crew's pre-packing efforts will help ensure the limited amount of transfer time available during Discovery's visit is used efficiently.

Scientific research also highlighted the week. Sharipov conducted three runs with the Russian Plasma-Crystal experiment, while Chiao worked with two student experiments.

"Plazmennyi Kristall" studies how plasma-dust crystals and fluids behave in microgravity when excited by radio waves. Sharipov set up the experiment, installing specimens and pumping the atmosphere out of its vacuum chamber so that tele-science specialists on the ground could command its operations.

Chiao installed the EarthKAM experiment on a bracket in one of the Station's windows for its final Expedition 10 session. Students at 160 middle schools around the world have snapped more than 900 Earth observation images by remote control.

Chiao also worked with the Space Experiment Module-Satchel experiment, which contains 11 sample vials, one each from schools around the United States. The sample vials are exposed to microgravity for three to six months. This is the first flight of the satchel carrier that was delivered to the Station by the last Progress 16 cargo spacecraft in December.

Chiao also spent several hours working to restore the Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System (SIGI) to full functionality. The system supplies Global Positioning Satellite navigation information to a Station guidance and navigation computer. It is working normally again after Chiao rotated out one of the Destiny Laboratory's systems racks to gain access and update the system's firmware programming.

This weekend, the crew will have the usual light-duty workload with cleaning and exercise on tap. Chiao, who is the NASA Station Science Officer, can also choose from various research activities for his optional Saturday Morning Science session.

Information about crew activities on the Space Station, future launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from Earth, is available on the Internet at:

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