Commander Report
04/11/2014
Prepared by Paulina Sidwell
Last day in sim, and lots of mixed feeling. On one hand, we are looking forward to a hot shower, a
fresh meal, and our warm beds. On the other hand, this experience has been so amazing and
fulfilling, that it is difficult to leave.
We woke up today a little later than usual. We have had an intense week, so the extra hour of sleep
was much needed. We had breakfast while listening to Josh’s music selection. As soon as we got done,
Kelsey and Josh headed to the GreenHab to do the morning rounds. Around 1000 hours, Kelsey, Liz, and
Dylan left on their EVA towards the quarry. Meanwhile, Kyle and Josh worked on their projects and
dealt with an internet data issue, and I started setting up to pack a previous crew’s experiment.
Liz, Kelsey, and Dylan came back around 1200 hours, and told us about their great EVA over lunch.
This was followed by the packing of the experiment previously mentioned, which was a little
complicated and took Liz, Kelsey, Dylan and I a large part of the afternoon. Kyle and Josh worked on
making sure the packs were in working shape for the arrival of the following crew.
By about 0500 we got done with our schedules tasks for the day, and we decided to relax by watching
a movie. While the movie was playing, Kyle and Kelsey made “Kyle’s Famous Carrot Cake” for the crew.
At 0700, the crew started working on their last set of reports.
This was a very productive day, and we feel satisfied with what we have accomplished during our
short stay at MDRS. We want to convey our gratefulness to all of those involved with this great
mission; we sincerely appreciate the opportunity. We will rest knowing that this is only the
beginning, as we plan to continue to bring crews to Mars and will continue to work on research that
furthers the Martian cause.