Commander's Report

February 15, 2008

John Thaler



Today we began wrapping up our mission here at MDRS. The mood has
already turned as we all commented about missing Anna who left early.
After a leisurely breakfast we worked on the final details of our
various projects. We are putting together a documentary about our
mission to show the public, sponsors and other interested parties when
we return to Earth. Supplies arrived today which included food for the
next rotation, a backup diesel generator and repair parts which were
needed for the water heater. Perry installed the part and the crew was
ecstatic. We've been 12 days without even warm water to shower! Mic
spent the afternoon setting up and priming the new backup generator.
Kerry, Perry and I took the three ATVs out for a spin to see Lith
Canyon and Candor Chasma one last time and collect some final samples
for the extremophile project. This evening we went out to catch a
glimpse of the ISS which went overhead around 7:30 and we got some
great long exposure shots of it going through the constellation Orion.

Tonight I will be giving my lecture on bone and joint health and we may
play a game afterwards.

Tomorrow we will do a thorough cleaning of the Hab and make sure
everything is in order for the second Mars Society Canada rotation,
Expedition Epsilon (Crew 67).