MDRS Day 5 - Rainmaker

I fixed or at least found the root cause of several problems at the Hab today, so in terms of Crew Engineer duties I did well. I also got to do an EVA, something I wasn't expecting because of all the tasks I had to finish today, but because I finished in time, I allowed myself some exploration time.

LaTasha cooked up a nice soul food breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and toast, which was GREATLY appreciated because I don't want to have to resort to powdered milk any time soon, and because it was just as good as the lasagna she cooked last night. After breakfast J.R. and Genoveva went on an EVA, Robbie and LaTasha finished preparing some Hobo sensors, and I started with the engineering fixups.

I started by finishing the insulation job on the batteries beneath the Hab. I imagine it would have been funny for anyone else watching me squirm around underneath the Hab with the 14 inches or so of clearance down there, but I managed to get the job done. Let’s hope mission support likes it.

Next I replaced the impeller in the water pump attached to the ground tank outside with the impeller on the pump we were using (an impeller is like a propeller, only I have no idea what the difference is). The pump was still not working, so Paul checked the fuse box. Sure enough, the wires weren’t even connected. We connected them, went back out to see if that did the trick, and sure enough it did.

There were still some kinks in the hose leading to the water tank inside the hab, so I ended up fixing those too. Finally, we don’t have to pump water from the outside anymore! It’s an automatic fill, so when we run low the pump kicks on and fills the inside tank. I also threw some insulation on the ground over the conduit so the pipes don’t freeze again (hopefully…).

We had leftover lasagna for lunch, which was still pretty tasty. However, because of the solar storm that’s going on right now, we had to spend half an hour in the safest place in the Hab: the EVA room. Sure, we could have written up some Spaceward Bound curriculum or a report of some sort, but no. Robbie and I decided to teach the rest of the crew how to play Texas Hold-Em. It really made the time fly.

Robbie and LaTasha went on an EVA to all the places Robbie and I went yesterday so they could plant the Hobo sensors and some slides, then Jen, J.R. and I took a pedestrian EVA around the Hab to gather geology samples. We hiked up the hills right behind the hab and found a huge field of shell fossils. Seeing them all makes you reconsider how truthful the Biblical flood was, because they were everywhere, untouched, and in good condition, although I have no idea how long it takes for nature to take its toll on a shell. I got plenty of good pictures from the EVA that I will upload sometime tonight. They will be in my Yahoo photos account.

After the EVA, I checked out why ATV3 had an oil leak. It turned out there was a huge crack in the manifold, something that I cannot fix while I’m here. We’ll just be stuck with two ATVs for now. The sump also overflowed, so it looks like I’m going to have to swim through some disgusting water to fix the pump. At least once I do, GreenHab will be fully operational, and they only things I’ll have to do (hopefully!) is change the filters in a couple days.

J.R. cooked steaks for dinner, plus we had more leftover lasagna (LaTasha cooked two pans and we only ate one last night). Now all of my reports are done and I’m wondering what I’ll do with the rest of the night. I’ll probably whip up on some newbies in Hold-Em. Until tomorrow, farewell.

"When I was wandering in the desert and was searching for the truth ,
I heard a choir of angels calling out my name.
I had the feeling that my life would never be the same again.
I turned my face towards the barren sun."