In February 2022, I took part in a mission in the Mars Desert Research Station. It’s a Mars Analog research facility in the Utah Desert. My 5 crewmates and I stayed 3 weeks in this facility without contact with the outside performing Extra Vehicular Activities and experiments for labs and companies.
During this mission, I was the crew’s journalist. My misssion was to write reports of each day both in English and in French. This task was crucial because this was the only news our family had from us. I enjoyed so much writting those reports. You can find them all on the website of the mission. Here is an extract from one of them :
10:04:50 : « ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… » the door opens and the light comes in. After a flash that blinds me for a moment my eyes start to accommodate to the light and I can see the red colour of the sand and the rocky mountains in the background through the open door. « Welcome on Mars » says the Hab Com. The goosebumps get me. At this moment, I can’t contain a smile. This is the first result of two years of hard work that were truly worth it. A little thought to Raphael our botanist who would have loved that view and we step out of the station and land our first foot on the red soil of Mars. We dreamt so many times of this moment and now it’s real. But now we have to focus on our destination, the reason for this EVA. Marble Ritual is waiting for us!
We also have a YouTube channel you can check out!