Journalist Report
04/14/2013
James Veselka
Journey Into the Unknown
We started the day at 7 am sharp with some interesting music from our Commander that included Knaan
and Moby Hotel and others that are cool and mellow. We had fresh coffee with sugar and dry milk for
creamer for breakfast along with oatmeal, banana chips, cereal, and European milk. We had a great
conversation on music and cooking. We also found out this morning that a news crew is coming to Mars
to interview us, which will be fun.
Next we prepared for our first EVA, the orientation eva. Three of us helped Brad, Kyle, and Santiago
into suits and wire up, that is to put on their space suits and audio communication devices. This
proved to be quite interesting, to find which suit fit each person best and solving audio issues. As
it turned out only two out of five headsets worked, but we found a way for the other member of the
first eva to communicate with the radio without breaking sim. Then they were off.
While they were on the first eva, Jennifer, Liz, and I ran a control for another MCC student’s
project that deals with space suit resistance. Tomorrow when the first team goes out on the first
eva of the day, we will test the resistance of his project in the same manner that we found the
control in time that we have tentatively set time aside. After that Liz and Jennifer started to cook
dinner and I put up the dry dishes. They cooked pasta, marinara, and cream spinach the smells of
which were amazing.
Then the eva team returned. They had a good mission and found mud on Mars. After we helped them out
of their suits, we sat down and ate an awesome dinner. After dinner, Liz, Jennifer, and I suited up
for our eva. We then ventured out into the unknown in our space vehicles (Atv’s) and discover the
natural beauty of the landscape up close and personal in space suits. The weather was perfect for an
eva, clear and bright. We even hiked up some of the hills and took in the fantastic view of our
surroundings.
When we returned, our crew members surprised us with some epic homemade cupcake chocolate cookies.
Then we all ate them and re-hydrated with Gatorade. While eating we relaxed and briefed each other
over the eva’s of the day.
Next we started supper, another tremendous homemade meal of rice, vegetables, and cinnamon bread
topped with nutella icing. The rice was mixed with corn, carrots, cilantro, and cumin powder. I
believe that the best cooks around are in our crew. Later we will go to the observatory to look at
the stars.
It was a wonderful day on Mars and our team chemistry could not be stronger. We operate like a well-
oiled machine running beautifully. Martian life has turned out to be amazing, even having comforts
of home like bananas and meat, even if they are freeze-dried. We look forward to tomorrow and seeing
the news crew.
Until next time,
Journalist
James