Mission Support Journalist's Report July 29, 2001
Mission Support had a small crew today consisting of Katya Muscat as CapCom,
Jim Rankin as Engineering Officer, and Lorraine Bell as Mission Support
Director. Jim and Lorraine also split the journalist's duties as well.
We received emails from the Field Team almost as soon as we were up and
running. The team had a very successful (and full) day with robot
tele-operations. Two crew members had to perform their experiments from a tent
because of radio interference while in the Hab. They operated in standard
clothing rather than analog suits as it was assumed they were in a secondary
hab or large pressurized rover. Given the way people were dressed while
outside it looked like a cold day to be working from a tent! Carol Stoker was
successful in retrieving a rock sample using one of the robots and the sample
will be analyzed in the Hab tomorrow. (and yes a small tent had been set up to
block their field of view so that they couldn't "cheat" by looking over at
their rovers. They had to rely on the video feedback)
The interaction with KSC was a little rushed but Pascal's answers were very
thorough and were well received by the KSC audience. My responses were not as
detailed and as I was not accustomed to the recorder the audience had to strain
to hear my answers. Fortunately, the KSC team received Pascal's responses
before they had to close down so the audience was able to leave happy.
The atmosphere at Mission Support was fairly relaxed after the KSC rush -
nothing like a deadline and fear of being chided by KSC volunteers to get us
running for the recorder! Now that the web cams are online in the Hab, we also
took the occasional break to see what the Field Team was up to - we spent
several minutes speculating on what they were eating for dinner. Good job
Steve and Marc on getting those up and running. We certainly appreciate all
your efforts!
I also had time to review several previous reports so that I could update the
"shipping items" list. I learned that the Field Team had received 2 boxes of
the Incinolet liners which leaves one box (purchased through the Canadian
store) still in route. The Team also received the battery charges, fuse
holders, and extra bite valves. The two 5.5 kW generators are in Edmonton so
should be shipped to Resolute and Devon soon - depending upon First Air's
schedule. There still seems to be one package of wax paper rolls still in
transit but I'll need to confirm that with Tony Muscatello. It does look like
our tracking nightmares are coming to a close though.
Getting voice reports and being able to see the occasional candid photo or web
cam image is definitely a big plus. While the text reports from the crews are
always thorough they often leave me wanting more details about how the crew is
doing. It's one thing to read "everyone is doing fine and we are getting along
well" but when you can hear the side comments and humorous remarks in the audio
reports, you get to feel as though you really are a part of the crew/mission.
I certainly hope that future field simulations and eventual missions to Mars
include frequent audio reports.
During a slow period, we had a brief discussion about how soon we could send
humans to Mars. Katya being young hopes it takes longer as she wants to be
one of the first humans on Mars. Jim and I being older and more impatient are
in a hurry. We want to see humans on Mars soon. I'm often frustrated by the
idea that our children or grandchildren will be the generation to explore Mars.
Why is that an acceptable time frame? I'm only 35. Shouldn't someone my age
be the first person to land on Mars? There's something "not quite right" about
the first person to explore Mars not even being alive when humans landed on the
Moon. Let our children and grandchildren explore Europa. Shouldn't every
generation get the opportunity to push humanity a little further into the
cosmos?
Lorraine Bell, Mission Support Director and Journalist
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