NASA's current estimate about how long a Mars voyage would take is 6 months; that's plenty of time to play 'never have I ever' in the back of the bus -- or more frankly, that's plenty of down time. So what are astronauts going to do with all of that time?

Sure, there will be all sorts of maintenance procedures and scientific projects to be conducted by the crew, but there will still be extended periods of non-mission-related activity that the Apollo crews had not encountered. When making their voyages to the moon, the Apollo astronauts had every hour of the week-long roundtrip pre-planned for them; but a 30 month trip to Mars (6 to go, 18 to stay, 6 to return) is a little harder to micromanage.

Similarly at MDRS, there are approximate tasks to complete each day, yet they are not confined to a strict schedule. This morning, Emily, Meryl and I took an ATV EVA to get more familiar with our 'Mars buggies' and our surroundings - that was the focus of our morning.

While it seems like an ambiguously unscientific task, our drive around the 'hood is in the same vein of many of the tasks that will be necessary to fulfill the President's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), i.e. to establish an "extended human presence throughout the solar system." A human presence anywhere will only be extended if he/she actually wants to stay there (think of going to Acapulco), so there will be plenty of getting-to-know-you time between humans and their new stomping grounds (i.e. the Moon and Mars).

If NASA has not thought of this issue yet then our rotation at MDRS is only proof-positive that it must be considered if they want to fulfill all of their mission: get there, stay there, get back, and have a desire to do it all over again. That's the only way we'll ever find ourselves saying 'Ah, Mars Sweet Home'.

Jason Sherwin, PAO
MDRS Crew 47