Alison Gibson

Commander Report

24 Dec 2016 – Sol 6

Mission Support,

We’re officially halfway through our mission. While it started out feeling slow, the days are going by much quicker now that we’re accustomed to our Martian schedule. We have been looking forward to Christmas all week as a chance to take a break and relax. We each brought a wrapped mystery gift in order to have a Yankee Swap (a.k.a. White Elephant Gift Exchange) on Christmas Day. I think we’re all hoping to end up with a gift that can provide some sort of entertainment in the coming week. We have a few makeshift decorations around the Hab to help get us into the spirit. Happy Holidays!

With the help of Mission Support, we have resolved our internet connectivity issues. We’re all able to use the internet for approximately 3 hours a day before hitting our data limit, which seems to be sufficient for maintaining brief email communications with Earthlings and CapComm each evening. The facilities are all fully functional and crew spirits are high. We have a lot of work to do in the coming week to finish our mission goals, so will have a full schedules between the holiday and the end of the mission. We look forward to welcoming the next crew in a week.

A Sol Summary, Engineering Report, Science Report, and photos will follow.

Ad Astra per Aspera!

Alison Gibson

Commander, MDRS Crew 171 (SEDS)