425-CommandersReport

Commander's Report

Date: April 25, 2015

Crew Commander Name: Bastien MATHURIN

Hello Earth,

Today is our last day on Mars. Soon we will give the floor to crew 154, who arrived this afternoon in their space shuttle from the Czech Republic.

This morning, we finally broke the simulation and went walking in the hills surrounding the base (but this time without our space suit), Romain also filmed the last scenes for his video-novel project and we cleaned up the entire station. We all feel both frustrated and relieved at this point. Frustrated because we would have enjoyed a longer mission, the station is really a world apart and we felt everyday like real astronauts, trying to make astronaut experiments, eating astronaut food and behaving like real astronauts would do. But we also feel relieved to come back to our lovely planet and particularly to our country, Belgium, where our friends and family are waiting for us.

Our stay at the MDRS was incredible, everybody in the crew learned a lot during the sim: about spatial research, biology, astronomy, geology, and also about themselves. It’s been a great experience and we really want to thank the Mars Society for the opportunity they gave us, we hope the next crews will enjoy it as much as we did.

Now, we are going to quit the Hab, but a part of Mars (made of rocks and dust) will remain in our minds. The day when the first man will walk on the Red Planet, we will for sure remember with nostalgia the time we spent here.

See you Mars, it’s been a great and red time here,

Crew is signing off

Bastien MATHURIN

Crew Commander, Crew 153​