Crew 269 Journalist Report
Date: 1 Dec 2022
Sol: 4
Author: Barbara Braun, Health and Safety Officer
The crew started their morning with a quick breakfast of oatmeal, rehydrated fruit, coffee/tea, and sourdough bread that our Health and Safety Officer, Barbara Braun, baked the night before. After morning health checks, Crew Engineer Ashley Kowalski and Green Hab Officer Matt Eby gathered equipment to repair the charging plug on one of the spacesuits, while Commander Kristine Ferrone, Tech Officer Trevor Jahn, and HSO Barbara Braun prepared to conduct an EVA to test out the crew’s imaging drone. Executive Officer Alli Taylor provided comms support to the EVA crew from the Hab.
The EVA crew had mapped out several locations for taking imagery, but encountered technical issues in the field with the drone’s memory card and the battery for the drone controller. The team was able to charge the battery and work around the issues with the memory card, but by then the time allotted for activities near the first drone site had passed. The team therefore checked on the mirrors experiment before returning to the Hab, and will re-attempt the EVA tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Ashley and Matt were able to successfully repair the spacesuit and complete other maintenance activities. The three ham radio operators on the crew (Kristine, Matt, and Barbara) looked at the ham radio equipment in the Hab in preparation for next week’s balloon launch and for possibly conducting some ham radio contacts. The Green Hab Officer, with the enthusiastic help of the rest of the crew, planted carrots and onions in the Green Hab for future crews to enjoy. Other crew members exercised using the compact exercise equipment in the Hab and had quick showers, before the whole crew settled down to a dinner of macaroni and cheese.