Journalist Report
Robinson Raphael, Crew 219 Astronomer,
Sol 0,
The Beginning of New Potentials
Crew 219 has officially arrived on Mars! Upon arriving, we
familiarized ourselves with Crew 218 and overall had a joyous and
welcoming experience. Alongside me, the crew geologist, commander,
HSO, LSO all slept in the science dome. It was quite frightful to wake
up this morning as I was the only person in the science dome. At
first, I was so confused questioning. Did my crew leave me? Did I
oversleep?? Was I still in a dream??? After giving myself some time, I
arrived back at the Hab to see a long line to use the bathroom. Some
things never change….. I slowly found out that each crew member woke
up at different times and just left. Keith, our HSO, journeyed to the
GreenHab at 2am only to find out the heater stopped. Oh boy that story
made all of us laugh and was a wonderful way to the start the day. As
the morning progressed, we all said our goodbyes to Crew 218 and
wished them a safe journey back to Earth.
As each member of Crew 218 left, we were filled with sadness as their
company was well appreciated. At the same time, we were also filled
with motivation, as we reminisced on the research projects they were
working on. A little bit after, we all took a written quiz which both
filled our guts with anticipation and a bit of nervousness. One by one
we all handed our quizzes back to be graded and slowly waited for
results. After each quiz was graded, we let out a burst of excitement
to find out that the crew passed and was able to carry on with their
day.
The day was quite adventurous as it consisted of training with the
rovers and learning how to put on the flight suits. For the rover
training, I was paired with Alejandro and we drove all to the starting
point of Galileo Road. Man, oh man it was so cold; my face felt like a
brick. Definitely going to bring more layers next time! The scenery of
Mars was gorgeous and breathtaking that I couldn’t just help but stare
all around me. As Alejandro was driving for the first half of the
journey, we kept singing to help the time go by and it was a wonderful
moment. When it came to the flight suits, we all took pictures posing
for the camera and admiring the feel and look.
As the day began to grow darker, the whole Crew 219 spent a majority
of time doing their own thing and helping out with daily tasks such as
washing dishes, cleaning the rooms, cooking, etc. I can’t wait to wake
up to our first Sol on Mars tomorrow morning!