After over 72 hours of relatively calm conditions, high winds developed in the early morning. An omen, assuredly, that should not have been taken lightly. At 6:30 in the morning roar of the wind was broken by a beeping alarm, signalling a complete drain of the batteries. A quick response by Danielle, allowed the rest of us to get the extra hour of sleep we had agreed to after a late night on Tuesday.

As has become routine, we began our day with a group yoga session, the benefits of which have been widely appreciated. It gets us all ready for the day, helps maintain an healthy environment, and continues to develop the group chemistry, which has helped through all the rough times. As yoga completed and we began getting breakfast ready, people completed some individual exercises. Unfortunately for André, his attempt at a behind-the-back-clap-pushup did not end well. The HSO report documents the incident in more detail.

The winds which had been a nuisance in the morning, increased in strength throughout the day leading to dust storms. This cancelled the EVA training that had been scheduled for the day and forced us to train at the habitat, mostly indoors. With gusts at times exceeding 45mph, it was necessary to secure the observatory door and monitor the status of the roof. Other highlights of the day included fecal incineration and a heater malfunction.

Despite the setbacks, the crew was still able to have a successful day, which included GPS training from André and Ryan, a presentation on the application of multispectral satellite data in geological reconnaissance mapping, and a biological lesson from John. The biology lesson included plating the samples acquired yesterday, along with swabs from around the habitat.

Morale is still high and our crew continues to work together extremely well. It appears that we are doing a little too well in our water conservation, which is not producing the required amounts of gray water. Our crew is looking forward to a modified shower schedule, which will hopefully rectify the situation.