March 13, 2024 – 18:15
Greetings Imagination 1,
I bet today’s EVAs were exciting! I look forward to hearing about them.
Tonight, the desert will cool down to 42F (5.6C). And as you’ve probably already noticed from your vantage, the Earth is becoming less illuminated in your sky, while the moon grows in ours every evening.
I hope you’re all finding the space to become immersed in your creative flows while away.
I’ll be around if you need me,
Mikayla Mace Kelley, CapCom
March 13, 2024 – 18:36
Pressure: 1.49 inches of water with blower at 25.50 Hz
Lung height: 55 inches
CO2: nominal [~2500 ppm] throughout the day
Water tank level: 39 gallons
Hydroponics: 6.8 pH, 2.0 EC
Woke up in good spirits. See our morning report. Settled into more housekeeping and work. Julie put the projector for lunar imagery in the lung as by evening we are finding that we are too focused on work/getting rest to watch the imagery or even a show in the TM. That said, all but Chris have used the VR for watching lunar imagery. Chris plans on doing it interactively later today or tomorrow after the EVA. Ivy has perfected the multiple stirring of rehydrated eggs in the microwave, which Chris put to use with eggs twice today. Systems are running nominally throughout the day. To minimize distractions we are keeping the airlock curtain closed, and Ivy has placed some dark cloth on the CQ hatch window and a sheer-ish tapestry over the lung window.
Mid-morning excitement mounted for EVAs…
After lunch—leftover southwestern rice and beans—Liz got ready for her EVA. Julie and Ivy assisted with the suit while I stayed on com till moving to the compressor. After pumping too much air into the pressure suit, with Trent’s expert guidance, I think my touch got more subtle. The procedures went well, and Liz was in good shape and spirits, happy to have done one move in particular. She did say that she might have need a bit more counterweight. Then Ivy was next after swabbing out the not-very-sweaty suit. I think we did a good job on the suit checklist, coms and compressor. Ivy came back in good shape and good spirts. Both post-EVA astronauts had welcome sponge baths. Both artonauts (couldn’t resist) went back to work, Liz on visuals and Ivy on sewing. She reported needing Trent’s assistance with the first stich outside and did three of her own.
Both Liz and Ivy have EVA reports and visuals, which I will forward separately as they are ample. Meanwhile, Julie reprinted an aphorism stamp with better results while Chris focused on photographs, soaking up the experience of being in the hab (being-mode as pre-writing) and reading some of Al Worden’s last book. Apollo 15 has been on our minds, and Ivy suggested watching a show to unwind this afternoon. We watched “Galileo was Right,” the Apollo 15 episode of From Earth to the Moon. It does a compelling job, with some historical compression, of showing how Apollo geology training evolved over time. Worth remembering that in the early planning stages of Apollo there were some who questioned the value of even picking up Moon rocks! William Phinney’s history of Apollo science training is full of such information. The enthusiasm of the Apollo 15 crew, under the guidance of Farouk El-Baz and Lee Silver, was the perfect foundation for the geology training given by those mentors.
Imagination 1 loved the dramatic portrayal of the Apollo 15 mission.
Here in SAM-world, Julie and Chris drank condensate filter water for the first time in the hab’s history, so, YAY.
If we were at Shackleton Base for real, perhaps we be looking at solar panel arrays along lit crater rims or on the peaks of eternal light. We might be powered by a nuclear reactor as well, of course. We’d see slant light and shadows darker than closed eyes in a cave. Perhaps Ivy would be repairing a colorful spacesuit representing her Kenyan heritage, while Liz demonstrated a dance move to help with removing a core sample. Meanwhile, Chris would be writing a daily mission report, like this, perhaps with some new lunar poetry from Julie, who also would be tinkering with some equipment.
Imagination 1 appreciated hearing the relayed voices from Earth as Mission Control assisted the crew with lunar tasks. As ever, we appreciate the Earth reports from Mikayla and her help.
We are wrapping the mission report up a bit earlier tonight, for everyone’s ease, as we continue to imagine, in the words of the 19th century selenographer James Nasmyth, “to be in thought lunar beings.”
