The Last Night

So our official simulation is over. As it stands we have left Mars and we are simply in the Utah desert. Tomorrow we are suppose to rendezvous with Crew 89 and turn the hab over to them. It's a bit of an awkward situation. I hate to see her go, but I am sure not staying here!

In all reality, this has been a great experience, but I envy those who have been able to take showers over the last two weeks. I am looking forward to the three hour drive back to Grand Junction, and the single night stay in the hotel. This week has flown by. We've accomplished a lot in the last two weeks. We were able to erect the radio telescope, complete geological gathering of various micro-fossils, as well as complete an EVA suit constraint study. Thank goodness we worked our tails off the first week, because this last week has been full of snow, wind, dust, and rain, making it nearly impossible to do anything outside of the hab.

We had two long term studies that we had to finish paperwork on tonight. We've been eating de-hydrated foods as part of a food study, and we had to fill out some questionnaires about living in this habitat. The beds are composed of a piece of plywood! We have taken time to exchange photos, we all have well over 2000 photos over the last two weeks.

Much of the afternoon was spent cleaning the hab for the next crew. We must leave this place better than we found it, in every way possible. The ATV's were a mess, Bianca cleaned them thoroughly. We are looking forward to the crew handover tomorrow. It should take place around 12 in the afternoon, but my hunch is that with the mud, clay, and snow, the next crew is going to be a little late.

I don't have too much to report tonight. Ohh wait, I promised you lunch on top of the world. Well, it’s certainly not the top of the world. But I did climb the tallest thing I could and set the camera up. I had a mid-afternoon snack on top of about a forty-foot tall mesa. Yeah, I know, that's not that big. The ground had about four inches of snow upon it, so climbing a forty-foot mesa was not aerobic exercise.

See you in Grand Junction,
Astro Paul