The San Francisco based Astronomical Society of the Pacific is the largest general astronomical society in the world. They sponsor a program called Project Astro, which pairs astronomers (both professional and amateur) with a local classroom for the entire school year. I have been working with the fifth grade class at the Majestic Way Middle School in San Jose, California for the past five years, visiting them once a month. One of my MDRS mission objectives was to have my students propose experiments that I would then perform, and to send daily dispatches that would be read to the kids every morning. In these dispatches I will briefly describe my day on "Mars," then concentrate on a single issue that my day's experiences that would be important in a real space flight such as water conservation, mission support or safe Mars driving techniques. These dispatches are now provided with the normal MDRS daily reports.

I also brought along posters my students did that can be seen in one of the hab's webcams each day. As of this writing, my teacher, Ms. Kofo Oluwole, tells me that the kids are more and more excited about the project as each day passes. And that makes it even more apparent that I really am "on a mission" and not some wacky uber space-nerd vacation.

And that is a fun place to be in.

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Hi all from Mars! Or rather, something that sorta looks a little like Mars when the lighting is just right. Right now we haven't actually started the simulation part of our adventure. We spent the first two days fixing things that the previous crew was unable to fix to make sure our simulation runs really smoothly. We expect to start "in sim" by the end of Tuesday.

We've been having a lot of internet problems so I must keep this first check-in report short. First to my Meteorite Remote Science Team, I have emailed Faith, but have not heard anything back. Please try and email me instead. I hope to send you some photos in the next two or three days to help you locate places where meteors might be easily found. Your tool made the flight in good condition, as did the drawings. If you haven't already, go to our webcam page and you should see one of the drawings. And keep watching during the day, you might see other things.

And for Jacob, my Communications Officer, I have had trouble getting through to AIM. But if you see me on, say hello. Whether AIM is working right or not, kids, don't hesitate to send me your questions and I will try to answer them in the next report.

Our crew of 6 has come together very nicely. We have one biologist, two engineers, one artist/writer, a woman scientist who studies the Northern Lights from Alaska, and me.

The area we are in is just beautiful. It is painted in an array of rich reds and rust colors, a little snow but not much. I can hardly wait to go on our explorations! And I will make sure to send additional pictures.

Oh, and we have mice. Or at least one that was running around. They look cute, but in an environment such as ours they can cause a lot of damage by chewing through wires and destroying equipment.

In a little while we're heading up to the observatory to look at the Moon and the real Mars so I must sign off now.

Mr. Smithwick