Journalist report Sol 1
Most of us woke up around 6:45 am to the Terran news that Pope Francis had passed away in the night. Since we hadn’t landed on Mars quite yet, we perused those A1 headlines with ample wifi; meanwhile, our Crew Artist demonstrated the instant technology of Bisquick Shake N’ Pour and gave us a pancake breakfast. We discussed space suit technology at the table—designs from different countries, the difficulty of keeping hands dexterous and safe—before making another small pot of coffee and cleaning up. This Crew Journalist predicts that we’ll lock into the perfect morning coffee amounts and rituals within 1-2 days.
Outside, our Crew Health and Safety Officer and Crew Commander set up their DJI drone and its bright blue landing zone near the Musk Observatory. On EVAs, they’ll need to fly it out to target areas and bring it back steadily, so today’s practice runs were geared at getting comfortable with abandoning sight of the drone itself and depending on the controller’s camera view, and landing the drone as precisely in the middle of the target as possible. The two crewmembers helped each other with this last part as if they were parallel parking (with an extra physical dimension). Soon after, the Crew Journalist set up her blue oyster mushroom growth kit in the GreenHab—please send the spores well and humid wishes.
Our landing, right at 12:00, was so smooth it barely knocked the tuna salad some were eating off the accompanying Saltines. We didn’t wait long to get ready for our first EVA; our Crew Health and Safety Officer, Crew Engineer, and Crew Journalist went first. It was a smooth ride to Marble Ritual after our Commander played Also Sprach Zarathustra through the radio intercom. We returned without incident, and the second EVA, after some difficulties, made another successful round trip. We’re noticing some definite differences between the one- and two-piece suits, and our Crew Health and Safety Officer tried the latter, which worked but felt a little heavy on the back.
We ended the later afternoon with bread from the bread machine and herb-y olive oil for dipping and a 100cameras photography module for our Crew Health and Safety Officer’s project—this sent us around the campus taking perspective-heavy photos. We eventually made a delicious stew that included a good portion of the freeze dried vegetables from the pantry (well-based on the broccoli and cheddar soup mix). Time is already passing quickly.