"Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it."
Leonardo Da Vinci: Time

Time is definitely a commodity that is as precious as water. Today will be a slow day for all of us. We have decided to stay in the Hab today and not conduct any EVAs in order to complete our Mission Reports and Summaries, clean the Hab for the next Crew coming in and to get some rest and relaxation. The F.L.A.M.E. students have been putting the final touches on their presentations and projects and are all done with the assignments their educators gave them back on Earth. Their Educator has been keeping the lines of communication open between the Educators and himself in order to let them know where they are at with their academics. As for the Hab itself, our generator is completely dead. We are on minimal life support and are awaiting a new generator from our Local Support. We are conserving our water in which whatever supplies of water we currently have is only for washing the dishes and cooking. Looks like no showers again tonight!

In the GreenHab the plants got a new "lift" as they were tied to makeshift stilts for the plants so they do not suffocate themselves as well as to ensure enough water reaches the roots of the plants. The GreenHab was also cleaned and organized. Please see F.L.A.M.E.'s GreenHab Report tonight for further details.

At 1700 hrs we will end our simulation. We will take the traditional out-of-sim walk around the hab that indicates the end of the simulation. It is amazing how we have met our unexpected challenges these past two weeks. Creating a realistic simulation is hard work when there are so many factors to take into consideration. Determining if your Crew are following protocols, finding solutions to problems that arise in the middle of the night pertaining to the generator which enables us to communicate to Mission Support and our families back on Earth. There are always prices to pay when living in a restrictive regime. There are those who long for their creature comforts and others who welcome the challenges that they face everyday because in the back of their mind they know it can only get more interesting. There is also a learning curve. We not only learn about the Mars Desert Research Station...we learn about ourselves. How much we can handle. How much we can push ourselves to adapt.

When the time comes...do you think you can spend two weeks on Mars? How about a month? Six months? Or even three years? If you think you have what it takes then sign up for a mission at the Mars Desert Research Station!

Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto
Commander, MDRS Crew 59