1231-CommandersReport

Crew Commander Daily Report

SOL 05

Crew 160

Crew Commander: Lycourgos Manolopoulos

This morning, on Earth’s New Year’s Eve, everyone woke up with pure joy. We are all away from our friends and family, yet, I believe that we have created a new family away from home. Homesickness throughout this rotation, especially today, has not overwhelmed any crew member and to me, that is a tremendous accomplishment. To see every member truly happy and enthusiastic about today’s holiday while knowing that they would miss their family traditions confirms that we just need to create one of our own!

There was no EVA scheduled for today, which turned out to be beneficial since a dust storm came by last night and concealed our known paths around the Hab. So for safety, this landed in our favor. Today will be spent indoors which will give everyone some time to relax and continue conducting their personal research. This also calls for more games and movies!

We are still due for research on the GreenHab’s Aquaponics system as well as growing the radish seeds in the grow tent located in the lab of the MDRS. Since it is Earth’s New Year’s, I didn’t let the crew overwork themselves. We ensured that all daily maintenance tasks and checklists were conducted to abide by the protocols. I essentially gave the day off to the crew to make sure that we are all in a healthy condition for the continuation of the mission.

Spending Earth’s New Year’s at the Hab is actually a really unique experience that we are going to remember for a lifetime. Come on, how many people can honestly say they spent Earth’s New Year’s on Mars? Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Anyways I’ve been blabbering on this report when I really should be celebrating, so Happy New Year’s Earth and greetings from Crew 160!