213-JournalistsReport

Journalist Report

02/13/2015

Kellie Gerardi

Today was a productive day for Crew 149. We were joined by a correspondent from ABC Nightline, and we began our morning with an EVA. We used the rovers to travel back to yesterday’s EVA location, where we had discovered a large, flourishing lichen colony. With five crew members on EVA, we were able to collect multiples samples from a variety of nearby colonies. We took them back to the lab for further analysis.

Our Nightline correspondent joined us on our EVA, and back at the Hab, we treated her to lunch on Mars. Commander Bakken was kind enough to bake another loaf of his now-famous braided bread, and we enjoyed it with minestrone soup.

We also decided to try our insect palatability study today, and while the majority of the crew had no problem with the cricket bars, we were all unanimous in our opinion that the boiled zebra tarantula was all-out assault to the senses.

We managed to get our work done relatively early today, so that we could enjoy game night. Luckily, tonight is also pizza night, so morale is quite high. I never thought I would find the reconstitution process of cheddar cheese appetizing, but I must admit that it looks delicious.

Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, is our day off, so I’ll be using the time to write a few articles about our time here. We’ve been pleased with the amount of media attention that we’ve been able to organize for our rotation, and we’re looking forward to highlighting the Mars Society.

The attached photos are from yesterday’s EVA to study the geological resources that are available nearby the Hab.