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The return to Earth of the
Expedition 31 crew members -

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being Kononenko,
Kuipers and Pettit -

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will wrap up a busy
week of activity

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on board the International
Space Station.

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On Monday, the week
began the with the check

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out of the Japanese Kibo
module's remote manipulator

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system, the Kibo robot arm,

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as Joe Acaba worked inside the
Kibo module to test out all

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of the systems on what
is known as the JEM RMS

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that exists outside
of the Kibo module.

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That robotic arm will be
used to extract payloads

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from the next Japanese
H-II Transfer Vehicle,

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the next Japanese cargo
ship that will be launched

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on the night of July 20
U.S. time, July 21 in Japan,

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from the Tanegashima
Space Center

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on the northern coast of Japan.

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That H2 rocket will lift
the HTV3, or the Kounotori3,

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spacecraft to the
International Space Station,

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where it will be grappled

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by Acaba using the space
station's Canadarm 2,

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the robotic arm, for
installation on the nadir

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or Earth-facing port of the
Harmony module on July 27.

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The Japanese robotic arm then
will be used by a variety

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of crew members to extract an
external palate of payloads

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and science equipment from
the HTV itself to be placed

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on the external platform of the
Kibo module for further testing

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and further experiments
will be conducted

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over the course of
several months.

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Tuesday the crew pressed
into a variety of experiments

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on board the International
Space Station.

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Again, these experiments a
complement of a wide variety

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of activity that the space
station now is involved in,

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in support of some
35 hours of payload

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and experiment time
per week by the crew

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on this orbital laboratory
in the national laboratory

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that is orbiting some 250
miles above the Earth.

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On Wednesday, the crew
had a final opportunity -

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some of the crew members - had
a final opportunity to work

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with Robonaut, the
humanoid robot that exists

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on board the International
Space Station,

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as the Robonaut had its vision
acuity tested once again

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and its manual dexterity
commanded by payload controllers

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at the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

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As the Robonaut went through a
proficiency test on dexterity

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on a task board in front
of it, the crew also worked

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in Soyuz descent training
as Pettit, Kuipers

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and Kononenko worked to prepare
themselves for the effects

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of a return to gravity
that they will experience

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for the first time in
six and a half months

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when they return
to Earth on Sunday.

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And finally on Thursday,
yesterday,

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the stowage activities for the
Soyuz TMA-03M took place along

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with stowage on a
Progress, a Russian Progress,

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resupply vehicle
that is scheduled

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to depart the International
Space Station in late July

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and then re-dock with the
International Space Station

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to test out new automatic
rendezvous equipment

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that is being installed in
the Zvezda service module