"We are much too pretty to have morale problems" - this (slightly modified) quote from the "Firefly" science-fiction series is the most interesting explanation I have heard so far for why this crew is getting along so well in spite of our heavy workload and the challenges of keeping the hab up and running. Maybe it is the surprisingly good food, maybe it is just plain old luck of the draw, but Crew 47 is the most compatible analog station crew that I have been on so far. The fun never seems to end, even now that spring break is officially over.

But while it is Back To The Grindstone for our friends at Georgia Tech, we continue to enjoy exploring this amazing Mars-like landscape, testing equipment and improving procedures, fixing and upgrading systems, and preparing for the next visitors: A crew from Country Music Television [sic] will arrive on Wednesday to report on the "Small Town Secrets" of Hanksville, UT, which of course include MDRS. We hope that they will deem us pretty enough for our footage not to end up on the cutting room floor!

Now dinner is eaten, the dishes are done, reports have been sent, Anne's physics homework is taken care of, and we are about to watch the next episode of "Firefly." Maybe it will yield another memorable quote for tomorrow's report.

Signing off for today,

Jan Osburg
Commander, MDRS Crew 47