As ground support personnel prepared to boost the International Space Station to a higher altitude, the crew aboard the orbital outpost worked with science experiments and reviewed emergency procedures Wednesday.

After completing the morning's activities and taking a lunch break, the Expedition 16 crew reviewed emergency procedures for the station's newest addition, the Columbus module. This is a standard procedure for any new module.

Later, Commander Peggy Whitson spoke with reporters in her home state of Iowa.

Engines on the station's Zvezda service module will fire Thursday at 12:16 a.m. EST for about two minutes, providing a further refinement to the 36-minute burn conducted during docked operations with space shuttle Atlantis on the recent STS-122 mission. This will complete the altitude adjustment needed to optimize rendezvous opportunities with space shuttle Endeavour, scheduled to launch March 11 for STS-123.