Coprates Triangle (Aka Hanksville, Utah) & Mission Support San Diego - Weather and travel problems delayed the arrival of all 6 members of Crew 13 to the Mars Desert Research Station over the weekend. The first message received from the all-German crew came on Sunday, February 2, 2003. In that message, Executive Officer and Greenhab Coordinator Heike Wierzchowski reported that Mission Commander Klaus Totzek had to return to Salt Lake City to pick up crewmember Tom Dirlich, whose plane had been delayed.

Weather conditions in the area were so severe that the trip from Salt Lake City to the habitat took 8 = hours, twice the normal time. The arriving crew were given an orientation by Arno Wielders and Susan Francis of Crew 12. The habitat was in good shape but heavy winds had jarred the antenna and pushed a stateroom window out of its frame. Crew 13 fixed the antenna problem and temporarily fixed the window to stop the extreme cold from entering the habitat.

Although normal operations were delayed a day due to the scattered arrivals of the new crew, Dr. Patrick Diel attempted to use the Musk Observatory on the crew's first night at the habitat. Bad weather conditions made astronomy impossible. Crew 13 spent Sunday getting settled in to their new home for the next two weeks. For the habitat itself, this is the first time it has housed an all-German crew.

The crew is led by Klaus Totzek, an architect and board member of the German Mars Society. Second in command is Heike Wierzchowski, a graphic designer and member of the German Mars Society. She will be continuing a study of workflow and habitat design begun by Bill Clancey in a previous mission. Tom Dirlich of Munich has worked on a habitat for extreme environments and on constructing water beds for use in weightlessness. He will be conducting research in the development of beds for a human mission to Mars.

Sigrid Belzer of the Technical University of Darmstadt will be the crew's geologist. She is likely to be working side by side with Dr. Patrick Diel, biologist and Musk Observatory Cooordinator for the crew. Dr. Diel will be conducting DNA tests to detect human contamination of geological samples.

The last member of the crew is Horst Gehrmann, aka H.G. Ewers. Gehrmann is author of science fiction featuring the legendary character, Perry Rhodan. He is also a science writer, and like a modern Renaissance Man, he has a medical and astronomical education and is interested in botany. He will conduct Crew 13's medical tests and be responsible for the greenhouse. His work will provide a foundation for further study on a later mission by Dr. Petra Rettberg, also of the German Mars Society.

Although MDRS will be staffed by an entirely new crew for the next two weeks, Mission Support remains in the hands of The Mars Society's San Diego Chapter. Shannon Rupert Robles, a founding member of the chapter, who ably served as CAPCOM for the past two weeks will be replaced for the next two weeks by Bill Estep, a brand new member. Bill is joined today, Monday, February 3d, by Shannon as Science Officer, William Hosak as Engineer, Gerry Williams as ombudsman, and Dave Rankin, as journalist. Ron Tyler of Littleton Colorado joined Mission Support as an observer/trainee.

Crew 13 acknowledged Mission Support's sign on with a request for help with the radios. The radios used for EVA weren t working properly and the crew needed advice for getting them to work. Crew 12's commander Tony Muscatello stepped in with an email explaining the radio procedures. Mission Support also directed the crew to the operations manual.

Muscatello then submitted a report from the road which described the hazardous transportation problems due to the severe weather. His trip with Tara Ruttley to Salt Lake City took 5 hours. Muscatello pushed on from there on the road but was unable to proceed beyond Evanston, Wyoming due to the weather.

Beyond the initial request for information from Crew 13 at the habitat, and Muscatello's report from the road, Mission Support received no status reports from the Mars Society's volunteer astronauts before nightly sign off.