EVA Cmdr: Hugh S. Gregory
EVA Trainee: Felipe E. Broering

The third Extravehicular Activity (EVA) of MDRS Crew 35 was a great, on foot, excursion executed by the Commander and myself, Health and Safety Officer (HSO). This was my first EVA and it was really something memorable.

After an experienced instructor's briefing (Artemis has some hundreds of minutes on EVA and suiting-up techniques experience) we started to suit up, and no more than 20 minutes later, myself and Cmdr. Hugh were good to go. A final radio check and we were locked into the air lock for 5 minutes of decompression, timed by a digital clock on the wall to keep us honest.

Starting with a local recognition of the terrain and suit essentials knowledge given by the commander (among other things a trained emergency rescue officer) we headed to the Sliders Hills vicinity, northwest.

Some of the concerns were about possible accident sites, places where hazardous conditions of the terrain, especially after hours of rain, could get an analogue-spacesuited explorer injured if he or she were to fall down.

Eventually an EVA must be done, no matter the weather and no matter the ground conditions, in these cases accidents are obviously more likely to occur if great care is not taken, as to how one navigates across the terrain. A trauma can be a serious condition and the team must be prepared for the worst.

At the same time, a part of the crew was into a "water pump mission" out of 'sim' given the extreme conditions of that situation. However in a real Martian environment we would not have the luxury to eventually break 'sim' and do repairs in a shirt-sleeve environment outside of the artificial life support Habitat.

It was 130 minutes of genuinely incredible scenery and a landscape that was so off of this world that it could easily be mistaken for actual exploration on the surface of Mars. I now fully understand why analogue research is of vast importance, if we are to delegate a team of explorers to undertake a voyage from Earth to Mars successfully. We made a journey safely thru nearby terrain where Hugh taught me recognition of dangerous terrain and how to navigate safely up and down the soft slopes of rain-soaked clay and sand. We made a journey to the north and then around the Habitat, in roughly a distance of 300 meters in diameter around it, and about a 3 kilometer walk of a breathtaking sightseeing on Mars, analogue.

Tomorrow is my test of knowledge acquired this day. I have been appointed EVA Commander for EVA Four and have to take two trainees, Adam and Kevin, out for their first walking EVA.

Good night to all back on Earth.