Lessons Learned:
1. Bring lots of cheese
2. Make a pre-ATV EVA checklist
3. Let the whole wheat bread dough rise before deciding its too dry

We're tired; today has been a long day. Doug provided breakfast this morning. He made impressive Eggs Benedict with corned beef for the meat eaters on the crew, and Rebecca and I had cereal. We're a little sad because we realized that we definitely didn't pack enough cheese so future crews, keep that kind of thing in mind when you buy your food.

After breakfast the fun began.

Rebecca, John, and I suited up and did a pedestrian EVA to finish up the soil sample project. We traveled in the west, northwest, and southwest directions around the Hab. These stretches were the most treacherous out of the whole traverse. We hiked up the mountain to Radio Ridge, and kept moving. Walking up the side of this mountain is no picnic without a suit, and with a suit it's even more difficult. It got really hot. Sweat trickled down our noses, but there was nothing we could do about it. While I was stumbling up the side of the mountain with my two crewmates I realized how much we take for granted when we walk on Earth with no space suits.

During the long walk something occurred to me. In order to create the perfect space suit for an astronaut on Mars they will have to go through extensive testing to make sure it meets the extreme temperature requirements as well as the comfort requirements. What better way to test these suits than to have a high school marching band wear them for a season? Being a veteran of 6 years of marching band, I know from experience that you have to physically exert yourself in the blazing heat as well as the freezing cold. Marching band would be the perfect venue to try out their final product. Just a thought.

Anyway, once we returned to the Hab we had quesadillas and discussed our afternoon plans. Jan proposed to take two people out on an extended ATV EVA. Doug and Kyle jumped at the opportunity. After an extensive pre-EVA briefing the three of them were on their way.

We attempted to test the ham radio range and APRS software. The sounds heard in the Hab around 5PM were akin to a radio symphony. There were spits from John's handheld, sputters from the APRS, crackles from the FRS, and random static on all sides. It was relatively difficult to determine what was going on because so many people were talking in so many different directions. The handheld being used for the APRS system started beeping repeatedly, and we noticed that the batteries were about to die just in time for John to cut out the power to refuel the generator. Once the power came back on we plugged in the handheld. After that, the APRS system was never the same.

Rebecca and I tried to get it to work by closing the program then starting it again (what I fondly refer to as the "Matlab Technique" - when your code keeps returning errors sometimes you just have to close Matlab and open it again - sounds silly but it works). We couldn't get it to pick up anything beyond half an hour after they left. I even tried connecting it to the APRS server and accidentally brought up what looked like the location of all radios transmitting APRS packets in the ENTIRE world. And I still couldn't find Jan on the map. I gave up after half an hour of tinkering with the program (and secretly hoping I didn't mess up the settings). Interestingly enough, the APRS decided to start sending packets again once they were back at the Hab. Rebecca and I thought to ourselves, ‘that figures.'

I have a feeling we are going to reorganize the way we do our radio EVAs in the future. Communication cut out for the FRS radios relatively quickly, and the ham radios worked well for a while. I think the balloon radio repeater will really help us extend our range (at least, I hope so).

On a random note, I'm attempting to make whole wheat bread in the breadmaker. At first the dough looked a little strange (and dry), but it looks okay now. I guess it just needed some time to rise. Dinner will be rice with stir-fried veggies (we're so healthy). The ATV EVA group is back now, tired, happy, and ready to write reports.

The weather has been nice, so we plan to deploy our balloon after we get the rest of the radio setup worked out. The History Channel is scheduled to visit us tomorrow morning. We will probably get up early to get ready.

It's amazing how much energy it takes to get things done around here, but we're having a blast. It's amazing how much energy it takes to get things done around here, but we're having a blast.