Journalist's Report

February 8, 2008

Perry Edmundson



Expedition Delta arose on Day 6 to visitors from a Japanese film crew.
They brought in their video cameras and installed them around the Hab.
It was like Big Brother on Mars! Later in the day, they moved their
shooting outside and Perry and Cheryl became the stars of the show,
donning our EVA suits and performing several staged walks and ATV rides
while the crew filmed us. This could be our big break! Watch for us on
Japanese TV very soon.

The Engineers once again amazed the crew by doing something that was
thought to be impossible: fixing "The Green Monster" - the old Kawasaki
ATV. It now runs and can be used as a third ATV for EVAs, despite its
grinding gear box and slipping drive belt.

The big adventure of the day was a trek to the summit of Phobos, a high
peak just south of the Hab. Three of us reached the peak just before
sunset and the view was spectacular! It was quite the exhausting climb
with the suits on. We also practiced some field documentation
methodology during our EVA.

Our commander decided to tackle the treadmill today. He thought he
could handle the "Performance" setting, but after several intervals of
running full out, the freeze-dried granola and blueberries that he ate
for breakfast decided to make its return. Needless to say, he was
feeling a little lighter after his workout and subsequent visit to the
bathroom.

Tonight is Friday night, and what better than an educational
presentation on our mission's major sponsor, COM DEV. Then we will
settle in for Episode 2 of Firefly and try to stay awake this time. We
can't stay up too late, however - our Japanese friends will be back in
their helicopter bright and early tomorrow morning to film an EVA on
the ridge to the observatory. We won't disappoint them!