Systems aboard the International Space Station performed well Tuesday as spacewalk preparations kicked into high gear for the Expedition 18 crew.

Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov checked out the cooling loops on their Russian Orlan spacesuits, activated the suits for initial systems checks, and configured support systems in the Pirs docking compartment.

The spacewalkers will exit the Pirs airlock next Monday around 7:15 p.m. EST for a six-hour excursion to install and retrieve science experiments from the station's exterior. They also will install a probe to measure electromagnetic potential around the Russian segment of the station that is suspected by Russian specialists to have contributed to the failure of Soyuz module bolts. Improper firing of these bolts resulted in steeper than expected re-entries for the Soyuz spacecrafts carrying the Expedition 15 and 16 crews back to Earth.