220-CommandersReport

Commander’s Report

2/20/2015

Paul Bakken

1 – Final work on cross-crew support

2 – Prep regolith growth study for follow-on crew support

3 – Project break down and packing

4 – Personal time

5 – Food distribution support

6 – Winding down

Greetings Mission Support!

Crew 149 woke up this morning and exited Sim. After breakfast, the first thing that everyone did was find some excuse that made it necessary to wander outside for a bit. The fresh air and wind felt good.

1 – Crew 149 has finished our support of previous crew projects. Crew member Schreurs will transmit the GreenHab use data to Cdr. Poulet from Crew 148, and will pass the information on continuing the data collection to Crew 150.

2 – Crew member Nicoletatos moved selected plants from our regolith growth study to the new grow tent. The remainder of the plants were culled, measured, and the regolith growth medium recovered.

We will brief Crew 150 on the proper care of the plants and how to do the data collection for the study. We are excited that the next four crews have agreed to support our project!

3 – All of Crew 149's project materials have now been broken down and packed up for transit back to Earth. The Hab looks so empty!

4 – After lunch, and until supper, crew members enjoyed personal time to pursue activities outside the Hab. I led a small group to see the State Park to the North of the Hab. Crew members Gerardi and Schreuers put the final touches on a video they have been working on. Crew members Sullivan and Nicoletatos mounted a two-hour expedition to Sentinel Hill.

5 – We also had a chance to take the newly delivered food items for each crew to Bull Mountain Market and distributed them into the individual crew boxes. Hopefully, this will make overall food usage easier to track from crew to crew.

6 – Tonight, we will take some time to enjoy our last evening meal and social hour together as “Crew 149.” I hear that a round of Settlers of Catan is in order, and that we are having lentil soup, which we had once before and was delicious. Can you believe that I am in my mid-40's and had never tried lentils before? The things one learns on Mars...

Respectfully submitted,

Paul Bakken

Commander, MDRS Crew 149