MDRS Crew 51
Engineering Team - MDRS Mod3 Refit Crew
October 25 - November 25, 2006

The MDRS, Mod 3 project (the Refit) was planned as an enhancement project with intentions of bringing everything up to International code. What we ended up doing was almost exclusively bringing Hab as close as we could to code, and make it as safe as we could in the time and limited budget that was allotted to us.

Name	Speciality
Paul Graham	Chief Engineer, Mars Society Engineering Team
CreShenda Tia Sands	Executive Officer, Aerospace Science Engineering Undergraduate
Ben Huset	Flight Engineer, Mars Society Engineering Team
Eryn Andrews	Environmental Engineer, Environmental Engineering Undergraduate
Tyler Barton	Crew Geologist, B.Sc Earth and Planetary Sciences
Kristen Paris	Crew Biologist/Geologist, B.S. Biology, B.S. Geology
Eric Boethin	Guest Explorer

Paul Graham	Paul Graham has been working as an Engineer for Mission Support since FMARS 2002 and is the current Engineering Team Coordinator. In this crew however, he is not going as Engineer, but is instead proving Dr. Zubrin's concept that a Mission Commander should be a completely rounded Jack of All Trades. He also intends to prove that Engineers can be outstanding Leaders and will bring a diverse viewpoint to his research project on Crew/Mission Support Communications. His professional qualifications include attending Colorado School of Mines where he studied Engineering Physics, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering as a triple major, and has worked in every building trade, including several years as a plumber, a tinner and an electrician. He has extensive RV experience from construction, repair, refitting, and living, having spent two years as a "full timer" and even spent a few days working on the ARES rover. Currently he is the CTO of Alpine Systems a PC consulting company where he loves to teach people how to use their computers in a fun creative manner and Alpine Systems Engineering, a Linux/Unix consulting and Web/e-mail hosting company where he spends most of his time building and breaking servers and figuring new and creative ways to use or abuse computers and electronic hardware. He is currently working on several Embedded controller real time telemetry and streaming media projects, including the most impressive car mounted computer project. His other interests include writing (He is currently writing a novel with several published short stories and non-fiction magazine articles), photography, videography, theater, acting, mountaineering, hiking and other outdoor activities, SCUBA diving, and he is an amateur radio operator (KC0IFZ).
CreShenda Tia Sands	CreShenda Tia Sands, is an Aerospace Science Engineering Undergraduate at Tuskegee University, Alabama. She is also a Spaceward Bound Student.
Ben Huset	Ben Huset: Spends much of his efforts giving hands on multimedia presentations to K-12 school groups, home schools, science fiction conventions, including Marscon, Convergence and MiniCon and civic groups on various space topics. Helped staff and then trained and managed staff for space education displays in planetariums, malls, theater lobbies and conventions. Past Director of MN Spaceweek. Helped coordinate display materials, manage display sites and trained and scheduled staffing. Helped staff NASA International Space Station display at MN State fair assisting visitors with hands on computer simulation displays. Created panel displays for Space Shuttle flights and ISS missions for local planetarium lobby and other venues , STS- 26 to current, often with realtime audio and computer world map displays. Staff writer/photographer for L-5 chapter newsletter L-5 Points. Later moved up to editor/publisher of Downrange. Wrote a syndicated monthly news and commentary column on Soviet Space Activity - Mirwatch. Co-authored article for Final Frontier magazine. Became board member, assistant director then executive director of MN Space Frontier Society. Elected regional board member of National Space Society. Campaigned for Presidential Candidate John Glenn. Founding Member of the Mars Society attended many of its conferences including the founding conference. Judge for Twin Cities Regional Science fair. Awarded certificates and prizes for outstanding space related projects. Videographer / producer at many Space Development conferences for cable access programs and chapter use. President of the MN Astronomical Society, during his 4 yrs in office, doubled membership to over 400+ members and brought two observatories on-line each with 16" telescopes. Established and managed an electronic bulletin board system for the easy exchange of information and electronic mail for the Space development community. Set up a desk top publishing system for a non-profit organization's daily operations and monthly newsletter. Set up a presentation computer graphics system for the organization. Currently developing World Wide Web pages for the many organizations that I’m a member of. Private pilot and General Class Amateur Radio operator KA0PSQ! Currently living with a wife, two teen-age kids and 5 cats and lots of computers.
Eryn Andrews	Eryn Andrews, is an Environmental Engineering Undergraduate at University of Nevada-Reno. She is also a Spaceward Bound Student.
Tyler Barton	Tyler Barton, holds a B.Sc Earth and Planetary Sciences from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He is also a Spaceward Bound Student.
Kristen Paris	Kristen Paris loves exploring, learning, and getting her hands dirty. She did her undergraduate work at the State University of New York at Buffalo, starting in biology and branching off into geology. After a PGGURP internship, she decided that planetary geology was her calling and finished a senior thesis project involving Gusev crater, Mars. Wanting to learn more, she did a LPI internship at Johnson Space Center the following summer, recommending a landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory. Now she is at Arizona State University working on my Master's of Science in geology. During her free time, she can be found reading, drawing, looking for some outdoor activities, making road-trip plans, and occasionally watching some TV. She recently acquired her Open-Water SCUBA license, so she's also looking for some college-budget friendly places to dive when she gets the time. She's also looking into places to get her private pilot's license after she graduates from ASU.
Eric Boethin	Eric Boethin has had an interest in space exploration since early childhood, and as an adult has been involved in the space activist community, starting with the National Space Society in 1991. At that time he joined Denver-based chapter of the NSS, the Front Range L5 chapter. Five years later, he was elected as an officer of the chapter, and alternatively served in different elected positions since then, and was elected its president in 2005. But Eric is also a member of The Mars Society, having attended its Boulder conferences in 2002 and 2005, and in 2006 in Washington, D.C., where he took part in the ‘Mars Blitz’ initiative to lobby Congress for the Vision for Space Exploration. He also spoke on the need for Heavy Lift Launch vehicles and alternatives available for them at the 2005 and 2006 conferences, and has done so as well at other space conferences and groups and science fiction conventions. He was involved with Mission Support for one of the first FMARS missions in 2002, and has maintained an interest in Mars analog simulations since then. He decided to become more involved in 2006 by coming to MDRS as part of the Engineering Refit Mod3 team, where he did construction in the engineering area and work related to getting the hab ready for the season. Afterwards, stayed on at the hab with the first crew of the season, MDRS crew 51 for the first half of their rotation as a "Guest Explorer." Eric has an associate’s degree in electronics, as well as three academic and three industry computer certifications. In this capacity he’s immersed in computer consulting, tutoring, repair and maintenance of computers and networks. His future plans are to get mechanical and aerospace engineering science degrees, and work to make space travel for the masses a reality.