29-12-2013
Ian Etter
After a late night working on the video transmission and viewing of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, we had a late morning. The crew woke up a little after 09:00, skipped yoga and went straight to breakfast. We had or fourth EVA today, which was scheduled from 11:00 to 14:00. We ended up leaving just after noon, and returning before 14:00. The weather was considerably warmer than expected and the EVA team was overdressed and moved slowly. The team was composed of Commander Nick, Dani, Usha and myself. We returned to the site that Dani and Usha had sampled from on the second EVA in order to bury the algae and bacteria samples. We ascended one small hill and took a few soil and rock samples. Upon returning to the Hab we had a lunch of leftovers and the crew separated to work on their individual projects.
The impact of the limited amount of activity seems to be becoming apparent within the crew. On the 8th day of our mission there was a general feeling of lethargy. Several crew members took a nap only a few hours after waking. Outside of the EVAs, which do tend to be physically demanding, there is very little activity or exposure to sunlight. Although scheduled for a three hour EVA, we had little desire to explore the area beyond what was necessary and returned to the Hab over an hour early. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues, or changes at some point in the next week. Everyone is in good spirits, the lethargic mood has not put a damper on team camaraderie.