I woke up today early, about 6:00 a.m. Everyone had decided last night to sleep in this morning-we stayed up late watching a movie, "The Dish" - about the first moon landing and the Parkes Observatory in Australia. Parkes had the satellite dish that fed the world the pictures of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. It was a neat and funny movie, and based on a true story. But, as I said, we were up late watching it, so everyone was asleep when I got up.

Not wanting to wake the crew, I dressed quietly and slipped outside to watch the pink sky turn to blue. I sat on a mound of desiccated clay as the sun came up, both absorbing the light and contemplating the fact that the desert I sat in once was under an ocean. I tried to imagine sitting on a mound on the ocean floor. Imaginary fishes were swimming by, ogling me; the buttes and canyons, the red and gray slopes surrounding me were part of a far-off future.

Eventually, as I thought, the ocean receded, and it was day, but the sunrise on Mars had me thinking about exploring new worlds. Is it man's destiny to reach beyond Earth, to a new planet? It seems a worthy goal to rally round, an expedition to Mars-something to focus ourselves on, beyond self, beyond them and us: to expand human knowledge, to reach beyond our grasp.

Why go to Mars? I'm just an English teacher from South Carolina, but it seems to me that we Americans should make a concerted effort to reach the Red Planet because it's there, to see if we can do it. Not to brag about it later, but to see if we can work with our international partners on a joint venture to test our mettle, to see what we're really made of, to explore new worlds. Do we still have the "right stuff"?

The movie last night reminded me of the awe, the wonder, we all felt as we gathered around our TV sets, holding our breaths, to see the first man set foot on the moon, to go where no man had gone before. These pioneers gave us something to feel good about . . . the best of the human spirit. How much better to achieve fame in the frontier of space than on the battlefield. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield . . . our modern-day heroes shouldn't be movie stars acting like pioneers, but the pioneers themselves.

I believe that Americans at their core are a people capable of greatness. However, we are slipping down a desiccated slope of self-interest, of cash-nexus, of taking cell phone calls during funerals. On the one hand, we are the Fast Food Nation. But on the other hand, we are a nation who has stood on the moon. We can choose our destiny: Big Mac, or Mars? Self-gratification, or human achievement?

A society which challenges itself to explore a new frontier cannot ignore the important work that needs to be done on Earth. If we are reaching for Mars, it will become even more important to be good stewards of Earth. We should not reach for a new planet only to carry our problems there with us. If we make it our conscious goal to confront problems like pollution, hunger, and illiteracy at home, if we set aside our self-interest for a greater cause, then by the time we set foot on Mars, we will have made two more giant steps for mankind.

I wasn't quite ready to head in again after contemplating man's place in the universe, so I spent some time outside for a while simply tidying up a bit. In an hour or so, I went back in to a silent Hab and spent some time scribbling in my notebook. About 8:00, my new cooking partner, David, got up, and we made our way back outside to refill the backup generator.

Breakfast was grits, eggs, and toast. The grits were perfect, if I don't mind saying so myself, and my crewmates seemed glad to dig in. After breakfast, Jody spent some time studying maps in preparation for an EVA today. He and Kim were to go on an ATV EVA up to Hab Ridge and look around. Tim and I had them suited up and roaring away by 10:30. They returned about lunchtime after reaching the ridge above the Hab and appearing on a film David made of them from the Hab yard. Lunch was a vegetable cream cheese spread on crackers with tomatoes and cucumbers. (Tim had cheese.)

Speaking of Tim, he spent a large part of the day hooked up to Derek's motion monitors. At first, he went through a set of motions for Derek to make calibrations. Then Derek turned him loose to do whatever he needed or wanted to-while Derek's monitors kept track of his activities. I did my own informal monitoring, and I'm pretty much sure that Tim sat at his computer for two hours straight without moving at all. Now, he had the rest of us in stitches with his funny remarks, but Derek can't monitor how Tim had us rolling in the floor. If Tim makes us move but doesn't move himself, then as best as I can tell, it doesn't count on Derek's monitors.

Kim amused us and amazed us with digital pictures of her house (she lives across from Gilligan's Island!) and her pets in Hawaii, and a trip to Egypt that she took in which she rode horseback around the pyramids. Derek countered with a "Silk Road 2k2" media show that he had made to convince the lads back home to follow Marco Polo's route. Derek is a major world traveler-he's climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, for heaven's sake. I couldn't compete with them at all, but they were kind enough to look at the few pictures I had of our woods back in South Carolina and make friendly noises.

Jody and David, meanwhile, headed into Hanksville to work on the blue truck's taillights at Don Foutz's place. They were gone for quite a while and returned unsuccessful in their repair efforts, but happily, they brought back a twelve-pack of diet cola with them. We're saved!

Before Jody had left for Hanksville, he had cranked up the bread machine for the first time. So all afternoon, we have been treated to the lovely smell of baking whole wheat bread.

We served it tonight with potato-corn chowder and cabbage-apple salad. The topic for tonight's conversation was the incoming Crew 16, with whom we are already corresponding, and the things that we hope to have done by the time they arrive. We also tried to explain to Derek the ins and outs of how the American government provides healthcare for former military personnel, and how state health insurance often doesn't cover annual checkups. After supper and a long washing up, we all settled down to our keyboards to finish up reports and correspond with Mission Support and other MDRS folks.

It's becoming a group goal to try to get more sleep, as several of us, me included, are feeling the strain of late nights and early mornings. But sometimes staying up late and getting up early is the only way to seize the day. And we don't want to lose a moment of our limited time on Mars!