Journalist's Report

February 5, 2008

Arthur Guest



After yet another delicious breakfast consisting of the now familiar
freeze dried scrambled eggs & bacon or granola blueberry cereal, the
ExDelta crew was ready to face their first full day of a Mars analogue
simulation. In the morning, while the engineering crew busied
themselves with improving the Hab's water system and power system, Anna
and Cheryl joined Kerry on an EVA to test his new geological equipment.
All three of the astronauts got quite a workout learning how operate
the auger.

Lunch was postponed due to the engineers, who having accomplished much
in the morning, were excited to continue making our Hab a nicer place
to live. Mic and Perry suited up to move the generator from its
location just outside our front door to its rightful home in the
engineering habitat. After completing the move and reconnection of the
generator, still in their EVA suits, Perry and Mic tried to fill the
ATVs with gas and fill the tires with air. This proved to be tricky
because their gloves didn't allow them to use their fingers normally,
but after some ingenuity and hard work, the task was done and they
joined the rest of the crew back in the Hab for a hearty lunch of Beef
Stroganoff.

After lunch, the engineers, now joined by Commander Thaler and XO
Grinberg, went right back to work. Oil was changed, water heaters were
examined, EVA helmets were fixed, and the sewage system in the Greenhab
was cleaned. Strangely, the engineers left the latter task to the
Commander. During this time the scientists focused on their research
projects. Kerry thought of ways to improve his geological practices
after the lessons learned from the morning EVA. Arthur worked on
tagging certain items so that his magic RFID (radio frequency
identification) container could track how often the crew used them.
Cheryl started testing water after excitingly receiving her equipment
on a shipment from Earth earlier then expected. However, the key
package that arrived from Earth today was Nasim's bag that had been
lost on the trip to Mars.

After celebrating the arrival of her sleeping bag, Nasim joined Perry
on an EVA to get used to riding the ATVs in our EVA suits. The
highlight of this EVA was the discovery of what could be nothing else
than a spent rocket stage in the shape of a cardboard cylinder. The EVA
was slightly sidetracked however when Perry, refusing to ask for
directions, led the astronauts away from the Hab instead of towards it.
Nasim was able to use the GPS device she had with her to convince Perry
to turn around and the astronauts have made it back in one piece.

Now everyone is back in the Hab awaiting what will no doubt be a
wonderful dinner complete with a homemade salad prepared by Cheryl.
There is no doubt that the Hab is in better condition than when we woke
up and, on the research front, all the projects are progressing
wonderfully.