A sunny cloud free sky greeted us at the start of Day 08 of the Pisces One Expedition. Today two crew members are making early departures due to work requirements back at their respective home. So today's activity will be EVA Eight, an all crew PEV EVA to Salt Lake City.

Prior to making the decision to shut the Hab down for the day, I consulted with my 2IC and HSO and invited the opinions of the rest of my teammates.

The results of the information I collated were rather simple.

One - Given the fact that Big Blue is now running right on the edge of roadworthiness and that there had already been one walk out to safety from a vehicle immobilsation it was felt prudent to send a two person operating crew along to transport our out going members to SLC (Space Launch Complex, Utah), until such time as Big Blue is send to the mechaninc's for a serious maintenance session.

Two - As Dr Broering pointed out, if only one person remains in the Hab and that person has an accident, gets bitten by a spider, or slips and falls down the stairs, they could be laying there for up to 16 hours without anyone to help them and the MDRS Project would have it's first fatality.

So I decided to shut down the Hab. All on site operations, except of automated Hab life support systems, would cease for the duration of EVA Eight.

This decision made, I announced it and turned my crew loose and the Hab was quickly prepared for a one day abandonment. For those of you who have been team leaders, mission commanders, military NCO's and Officers, you know as a Commander you have a good team when an announced job is done without having to provide constant supervision, guidance or micro managing.

With all preparations made, including myself installing the Hab's webcam in the SE porthole with sunglasses (so it would work in bright sunlight) and provide viewers world wide a live view of analogue Mars (and the drive up to the Hab so our Mission Support and local Support could observe any visitors approaching), we commenced close out.

At this point the unexpected bit us and a search was on for where the pad lock to the front door had been put away as it was not in it's customary place. Considering the state of the Laboratory it's a wonder we can find anything, but we are working in as we have the time to spare.

With the Hab lock up tighter then the Royal Canadian Mint we bounced and jolted our way out the highway and headed off to SLC. (see the EVA Eight Report for details). Personally, the drive was very enjoyable, and both a happy and sad occasion. Happy in that my two intercontinental crew members got to view the spectacular canyon country of Southern Utah on a clear sunny day. Sad, in that I was losing two very valuable members of my team.

To Dr. Felipe Broering, MD our thanks was extended for looking after our cuts and scrapes and taking care of our one ill crewmember. He came to us a "new boy" and he leaves us with four EVA's under his belt, one of which he was an EVA Commander-Instructor to teach two other newbies the hazzards and joys of walking around on analogue Mars just after some very heavy rains had made the footing very trecherious. Our quiet and reserved Brazilian goes back home reluctantly as he wished he could have stayed the full two weeks, but we have to keep in mind that it is our day to day career in the outside world that pays the bills and keeps our families fed, clothed and sheltered. We would all serve with him on an analogue crew again, anytime, any Hab.

To Kevin Saka, PE our thanks was extended for his engineering services and the knowledge of HVAC engineering he shared with us over may an after dinner chat. He also "rescued" us from certain Hab abandonment by getting our electricity generator back on line in the dark of the night. He didn't give up and was always cheerful and smiling when not head down over blue prints of the Hab or his laptop designing an HVAC system for our analogue Mars home. He was also a fairly good cook and his breakfasts were always something to look forward to as was his excellent wake up coffee each morning. Kevin was able to accomplish four EVA's, one a walking EVA under Felipe's instruction and three ATV EVA's, one as a student of mine on our first ATV EVA and yesterday he was given command of ATV EVA Seven for the longest exploration into the country side of analogue Mars yet to be explored the the Pisces One Expedition. We would all serve on an analogue crew with him again, anytime, any Hab. Both Felipe and Kevin were excellent students of spacecraft and Mars habitat operating procedures and quickly learned a substancial knowledge of spacecraft living techniquess and the methods used to keep one alive far away from the safety of The Blue Planet. They quickly grasped and fully understood the various techniques and procedures I made all the crew follow with regards to EVA drills, that in an off world situation would be absolutely essential to keep themselves alive in a harsh and hostile environment.

They became confident and safe ATV riders and both were given EVA commands to test them of their leadership qualities. They both followed and exercised judiciouly the safety guidelines I place upon them and returned their teams to the airlock unscathed and their equipment in good operating condition.

They also took enough phots to leave me, Adam and Anthony a monumental task in deciding which would be the best photos to send up to the web site to properly display their amazing adventures to the whole world.

My apologies to Dr. Broering for him not being able to accomplish any of his research but the four days of sim we lost due to the incomplete refit work has affected all of us. It was a hard decision tomake to loan us all to Paul so that the job would get done, but if not, we would not have had a functional Habitat. I too was unable to do the Astronomy Science I came here to do (impliment Project MOSS), because the telescope has not yet been repaired.

I wish with all my heart there was someway to make it up to you Felipe because like most newly graduated MD's you had to save up for over half a year to be able to afford to come up and fly with us to analogue Mars. I do hope this will not discourage you from flying another analogue mission with us on another Pisces Expedition, whether we come back to MDRS, or go to Oz-Mars, to Euro-Mars or Flashline Station on Deavon Island in Canada's high artic.

Kevin, if I come back here to lead another MDRS Crew, I want you as my Chief Engineer if you are available. Well done sir!

Our return home to the station was accomplished under a three quarter full Moon which made for some interesting vistas and it was most heart warming and exciting drive around the corner and find our Hab sitting there with the lights on, awaiting our return.

Tomorrows plans are totally up in the air (two tenetive EVA's planned) as we really need to see a weather forecast to make long range plans for the rest of the week.

Good night to all back on Earth from the Pisce One Expedition on analogue at the Mars Desert Research Station, somewhere on the night side of the analogue Red Planet.