We continue to make progress daily, in small steps to be sure, but I feel the crew is now able to take a strategic view of what they are doing. They are aware of not only their specific roles but how their task fits in with the rest of the crew's tasks and how they in turn fit in with the bigger picture of the hab and our continued stay here on "Mars'.

After everyone's morning routine from 0830 to 0900 I provided the morning brief from 0900 to 0930. The brief consists of both a dissemination of information in a top-down fashion (from me to the rest of the crew) as well as bottom up information. Each crew member gave their briefs pertaining to their specifc responsibilities, outlining any major incidents they were expecting from the day and what issues were uncovered in the previous day's report.

Today marked our first EVA, the three participants being Richard, Susmita and Edwin. Jamon and I briefed the EVA crew for around 20 minutes. In this first EVA there were few points, other than the primary aim of becoming familiar with wandering around in the suit.

Some of the main issues coming out of the EVA were: communications difficulty, suit sizing (especially for the smaller members of the crew) and fatigue. Interestingly, each of the EVA participants experienced these factors to differing degrees.

The EVA concluded at around 1250, after which the crew sat down together for lunch and to afternoon plans. After lunch, routine duties were tended to as well as personal projects continued. I concentrated on rationalising the computer workstations and taking an inventory of the computer equipment that we had around the workstations and in boxes. After this I adjurned to my room to reflect on the day's activities and write the morning entry in my journal as well as continue reflecting on the maintenance engineering issues of the hab, for which I am constructing a paper.

This continued until dinner time, although other those crew members who were still uncertain about the ATVs took this opportunity to gain confidence on them.

Dinner continued through until 2100 after which reports were filed.

The crew will be submitted to a full simulation tomorrow, meaning that all activities will be conucted under the context of a Mars mission. While it will only be for the day, it will mark the start of the proper simulations, ramping up to a three and then finally a five day full simulation.

The crew has maintained great cohesion and harmony so far. It will be interesting to see if this continues under the duress of strict simulation rules.