0128-CommanderReport

Crew Commander Daily Report

Sol 05

Crew 162

Crew Commander: Renee Garifi

At 09:00, my Health & Safety Officer and Executive Officer suited up to

perform engineering checks. Once they were outside, I let them know our

visiting vehicles were in site from the crow's nest on the second floor

of the hab. They proceeded on ATV to the fork in the road to greet our

visiting crew and usher them to our hab. Once the Fox news teams

unloaded their spaceships, HabCom authorized airlock ingress and

repressurization cycle. The reporters were as equally excited to talk to

us about planetary as we were to showcase our projects. We hosted

interviews in the hab, in the greenhab, and the observatory. We took a

tour and discussed how to prepare for a trip to Mars- what to pack, who

to bring with you and how to utilize resources once you arrive. Our team

was sincerely honored to be a part of promoting MDRS and the work done

by the Mars Society. We hope the news reports make their way to the main

page next month.

One of my favorite things to do is discuss the future of manned space

exploration: Where we've been, what we're doing now and where we want to

go. This topic is the reason our team is completing a research rotation

here at MDRS. We are creating the future of Mars this very day at analog

sites like MDRS around the world. The reporter asked me my thoughts on

an individual company or single space program sending humans to Mars in

the coming years and if I think it will really happen. My reply to her

was this: 50 years ago, the human race had not yet left our planet.

Imagine what we can do in another 50.

Until tomorrow, Crew 162 Commander Garifi, signing off.