Coprates Triangle (Aka Hanksville, Utah) - It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that, at least today, the MDRS crew spent almost as much time exploring the Martian surface as they did inside the safety of the habitat. Following an early morning planning session--covered, along with the rest of their activities for the day, by a visiting German TV crew and a radio reporter--the first of three excursions to the "outside world" were launched. The purpose of the initial EVA, which lasted roughly one hour, was to familiarize the team with the ATVs. Tom Dirlich, Heike Wierzchowski and Patrick Diel circled the habitat a few times testing the vehicles before venturing approximately one mile away from the MDRS. The outing was so successful that a second EVA was launched almost immediately upon the completion of this expedition.

EVA 03 (the second of the day, but the third for the entire mission) was comprised of the same three people, and traveled three miles south of the habitat. On this journey, the team identified and marked GPS coordinates for a trio of promising locations. The crew expects to return to these spots on future EVAs to collect geological samples.

Following lunch and some brief interviews with the German TV team, Crew 13 decided to attempt a third EVA. The squad for this excursion consisted of Dirlich, Klaus Totzek and Horst Gehrmann. Continuing for about one hour, EVA 04 tried out the drilling equipment that will be used on future 'out-of-hab' investigations.

The crew also began initial preparations for a balloon experiment, which they tentatively expect to launch tomorrow. Additionally, the previous night initial astronomical observations were recorded of Jupiter and several other Messier deep sky objects.

Regrettably, all this activity did have one drawback. Prior to the start of the mission, Gehrmann had been diagnosed with (but had ostensibly recovered from) the flu, and he experienced a serious relapse late in the day. In order to avoid potentially infecting the other crewmembers, he went 'out of sim (simulation)' to recuperate at a local motel. He therefore holds the dubious distinction of being the first member of Crew 13 to come down with "space sickness." Nonetheless, the members of the team remain in good spirits, and look forward to another day filled with excitement, exploration and EVAs.