0113-CommanderReport

Crew Commander Daily Report

SOL 04

Crew 161

Crew Commander: Divya Shankar

I woke up early this morning with the happiness that had filled my sight and heart last night watching wonderful thick blanket of millions of stars in the sky which has always inspired me to push my own limits and explore more to know “What Is Out There”??!!! At the same time it makes me sad about the night sky view that we miss back home. Myself and crew astronomer had spent some time last night aligning telescope and observing Orion Constellation, Sirus, Jupiter and its moon which made me promise myself to bear the cold and continue to join our astronomer for all her observation to enjoy wonderful star gazing.

Day started with morning briefs and engineering checks as usual. Today was my turn to conduct my research and go on EVA. We lost communication with HabCom and had forgotten to take a timer with us. Going on ATV following the trails and figuring out where we are on map and reaching target was an adventure in itself which took us lot more time than predicted and could not be back to hab on time. At the end of the day we completed the mission reaching Region-1 for soil analysis conducting physical analysis of soil on site and collected soil for performing chemical analysis in the lab. This EVA made us discuss and realize many safety checks we have missed all these EVAs and things we should consider in future for such long distance EVAs when there is no HabCom support.

It was a good learning and adventurous day!!

Thank you

Regards

Divya Shankar

Commander

MDRS Crew 161