Crew 315 Sol Summary Report Date: 25 APRIL 2025
Sol: 5
Summary title: “Pizza is the reward for a job well done.”
Author: Tim Gagnon
Mission status: ongoing
As in previous days, it begins with the Commander who awakens first hydrating fruit and making coffee. As the saying goes, “The best part of waking up…”
He was soon joined by the Crew Artist who opened the book of recipes to plan our dinner tonight. Per the Commander’s request, it’s pizza night!
When everyone gathered around the table, the discussion turns to music and the Commander opens his laptop to play a concerto he wrote. It was said that during the Apollo Program NASA should have sent artists, poets, and musicians to the Moon. It is our consensus that on future Mars missions it should be a requirement.
After breakfast, the Commander and the Journalist prepared for their EVA to Lith Canyon Overlook. It has become custom for the EVA crew to pre-breathe and exit the airlock to various appropriate musical selections. Today the HSO played: Cave In by Owl City. Details of the EVA to come in the EVA report.
After they departed, the Artist and the HSO began cooking the spaghetti sauce for the pizza. (Note a good sauce needs to cook for five or more hours.) Our Engineer served as CapCom and also removed the weeks trash to the rear airlock. As a surprise for our intrepid Mars walkers, the HSO and Artist prepared corn muffins with cheddar cheese and green onions.
In the afternoon, the 10th EVA was crewed by the HSO and the Engineer. The goal was to return the rocks gathered on EVA 3 and flight test the drone in higher wind conditions. The flight test was successful in that the limits of the drone technology were defined. The Artist served as CapCom.
As a reward for two successful EVAs the Artist, Journalist and HSO prepared two delicious pizzas. Can an MDRS Pizza Shop be far behind? One pizza was with red sauce, and ½ beef and ½ cheese. The other was a white pizza with pesto sauce, ½ chicken and ½ mushroom.
As we finished dinner and waited for the comm window to open, the Journalist opened a discussion about the future of Mars exploration. Topics included the cost, the participants, the schedule, and the possibilities of crew makeup.
Once all the reports and EVA request(s) are submitted, we will again gather to share music that the others are unfamiliar with. The Commander and I want our younger crew mates to hear “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams. They in turn will share music from their favorite artists. We are really “gelling” as a crew and working together to make sure all goals are met.
In many respects, today was our best day.