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19 februari 2010
Als commandant zijn mijn dagen erg lang: ‘s Morgens begin je met een briefing en de taakverdeling. Dat kan wel eens wijzigen in de loop van de dag wanneer er technische of menselijke problemen opduiken. Dan moet ik prioriteiten stellen.
In de loop van de dag doe ik mee met de geplande activiteiten en ‘s avonds begint het echte werk: Contact leggen met “mission control” op aarde en een eerste algemeen rapport insturen. Dan volgt de debriefing van de dag en doe ik mijn rondvraag bij de verschillende verantwoordelijken: de boordingenieur, de “Health and Safety Officer” en de hoofdwetenschapper, die allemaal hun rapporten moeten indienen. Ik maak dan per dag een “commander’s report”, waarin ik de dag samenvat en eventuele problemen meld aan de “Capcom” (Capsule Communicator), net zoals op een echte ruimtemissie.
Het MDRS 90 Team op Mars!
Hieronder kan je mijn laatste officiële “Commander’s report” van deze missie lezen:
Final commander’s report CREW90 Friday February, 19th 2010 Nancy Vermeulen
Crew physical status: Good, Pierre-Emmanuel’s arm is stable enough for the return trip.
Today is non-cooking day.
Hab systems work fine. Water level in the trailer tank is around 11, DG knows.
Arjan did the last measurements for the Florida experiment: “Martian soil”. DG picked the three boxes up this afternoon.
During this mission Nicky repaired the backpacks in a very professional way, so they are all functional for the next crews.
Today we cleaned, packed our experiments and personal stuff.
We had our last live contact with the “Astro Event Group” in Belgium.
In total we did 25 live contacts with schools, astronomical associations and Radio Stations in Belgium during our rotation.
We were followed by two television crews: one French speaking and one Flemish speaking.
In total we did 17 EVA’s, collected fossils and rocks for study in the lab and made 15 educational movies to use afterwards in the classroom. About 25 science reports were sent in.
The aerosol measurements for RMI will be interpreted in the lab back in Belgium.
The plant growth experiment was partly successful: some plants did grow, most of them, didn’t, including the “space plants”. The plants that grew, were cultivated in wet river soil.
Our biggest challenge was to see how 6 people with totally different ages and backgrounds would work and live together during a simulated Mars mission.
Conclusion: On personal level it worked fine, as we resolved interpersonal conflict by talking, humour, empathizing and showing respect for our different ways of being. After every clash, you feel that everybody understands each other better, has more respect and the team spirit moves forward. The trick is to suppress negative feelings and to motivate each other.
On professional level, it was sometimes difficult: in this kind of mission a basic professional attitude is necessary, if not the whole group gets in trouble and I notice a lot of stress on the team when some people don’t perform their tasks as expected. Here flexibility and task repartition are necessary.
Lessons learned: Preparation and full dedication to the mission are of utmost importance. First comes the common goal as a group, then the individual goals.
Everybody has to respect the standard operating procedures and rules to succeed in future manned missions to Mars!
We all enjoyed this mission, learned a lot and are very grateful to have had the opportunity to be the first entirely Belgian crew at MDRS.
De 90ste Commendant van het MDRS
Een beetje humor af en toe
Alle Commanders van het MDRS
Marsmannetjes in de kamer
DG - de man die ons bevoorraadt samen met Arjan
De Sky is NOT the limit
Nancy Vermeulen
Commander MDRS90
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