Today has been yet another busy day for Crew 25. Things got to a start fairly early with Amy, Daniel, Dennis, Jason and Ryan getting ready for their EVA. To make things more interesting, they began with an emergency EVA test run. Since there are currently only five full suits available, Kevin sat out from the test run. The five crew members were able to get the essentials on rather quickly, but after they crew made it in to the airlock they realized that two of them "died". One of Ryan's air lines was left disconnected, and Amy's helmet was not sealed on. Between yesterday's simulated rescue mission and today's simulated emergency exit, the crew has shown just how difficult emergency procedures can be in full simulation.

After their simulated emergency exit, the crew (minus Kevin) ventured to Lithe Canyon. This was both a PEV and ATV EVA, as Ryan followed the truck on the ATV. The crew ran into difficulty with the navigation, and was never able to fully find the specified site. After running into navigation problems on several EVAs, the crew is beginning to see just how unreliable GPS units are. A topographical map and a compass are definitely a lot more reliable than the GPS, which is barely more than a backup.

While the rest of the crew was out on EVA, Kevin stayed back at the Hab and worked on the electronics of the PSUMS rover. The progress with the rover has been picking up a great deal, and testing should occupy the crew for the remainder of their stay at MDRS.

This morning Amy and Jason began making tutorial videos of the major engineering tasks around MDRS. These videos should prove to be invaluable in the transition between crews. Since only Daniel and Dennis from Crew 25 will be around for the hand off to Crew 26, these videos will be especially helpful.

Tomorrow morning Ryan will be leaving MDRS. He is heading to Paris to meet up with a trip to a launch site in South America, sponsored by the European Space Agency. Crew 25 will miss having Ryan around during the last few days; he has been a tremendous aspect of the crew. It will be a busy last few days at MDRS for Crew 25!