Commander's Report

March 6, 2008

Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto



Commander's Report

06 March 2008

Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto

Hello to all our friends and family back home on Earth. We have had a very busy day.

Our Chief Engineer and Chief HSO have fixed our water tank issues and now everyone has been able to take a shower, which is a good thing. We have come to the conclusion that the water pump was flush against the bottom of the water tank and no water was able to get into the pump.

Our students' school session was split into two sessions in order for the Crew to participate in an early EVA without rushing back to the MDRS before sunset. We traversed to new places that the F.L.A.M.E. crew had not previously gone before. We were fortunate to find a new locality where concretion-bearing layers were found. I was able to have our Chief Engineer write down the coordinates and make general observations of the environment around him. Some samples were collected at this new site of interest as well as some photogeology imagery acquired.

We have noticed since last night that our communications are very slow and that our satellite link is the cause of it. We would like to request that Mission Support allow us some extra time to get the reports in and please keep track of the timestamps of the transmissions.

We are at a specific phase in the mission where we cannot believe that it is "already Thursday". I have heard this stated numerous times today. We are almost halfway done with our mission and we have so much to do. I can tell that the Crew is very tired after our EVAs.

Adhering to a Martian Sol is tough. I always use to think that I can get so much done with that extra 39 minutes a day when the reality is that you do indeed work more and you do get tired fast. It is best to pace oneself when living on Mars. You want to do so much and go exploring but there are things that take priority that it takes someone who has actually lived on Mars for extended periods of time to really get use to the wake sleep cycle.

The F.L.A.M.E. crew has seen many new faces join us on our missions of discovery here on the Red Planet. The children have advanced beautifully and enjoy their stay here at the Mars Desert Research Station. It is with mixed feelings that when I see them study, play and even participate in EVAs, I feel proud knowing that I was able to give them something that no one else could.I gave them a little taste of Mars.
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