This is the last day of sim, and the crew is already halfway into their "let's get ready to resume our normal lives" mood. But they can afford to be: most of our research and hab improvement objectives are accomplished, and what few things are left we will take care of tomorrow. This will include a thorough briefing of the incoming crew to make them aware of all the big and little "lessons learned" that we have accumulated during our rotation.

Today's most memorable event for me was the pedestrian EVA to a hidden canyon east of the hab, our last EVA in sim and the first one using a route planned by our mission support team members at Marietta High School. Their directions worked out great - a big thank you to them for a job well done. Details are in the EVA20 report.

Now dinner is almost ready, and afterwards the crew will enjoy their well-deserved out-of-sim walk around the hab, the first one since we closed the main airlock hatch behind us on Monday of last week. The desert night promises to be clear and dark, and so millions of stars will remind us of the vastness of the universe that humanity has just started to explore.

Signing off for today,

Jan Osburg
Commander, MDRS Crew 37