Day 245
Mood:  happy
This will be the last entry in my cheap Mars flight blog. Because as we speak, the Mars crew and I have already left the quarantine space station and are on board a minishuttle. And in less than an hour, we'll be back on Earth. Now I'm suddenly reminded of that Ozzy Osbourne song "Back on Earth."

"My spirit keeps breathing, my chances are pure
"Like reincarnation my soul will endure
"Oho, oho, oho, oho...

"Back on Earth
"Back on Earth
"Back on Earth
"The spirit it never lets go..."

With that said, see you later, gis la revido and watch out for further cheap Mars flights!

Day 225
Mood:  energetic
Life on the QF Lab -- the quarantine space station -- is less stressful yet not as funfilled as life on the ICSE. As the Martian samples are being studied, we the former crew of the ICSE are undergoing numerous medical exams. Even though we didn't use artifical gravity on the ICSE as often as we had planned, our over-all bone and muscle degernation was less than calulated. Meanwhile, Melody contributed to the study of the Martian samples hoping to actaully find proof of Martian microbes this time. But Keith, Leonid and I talked in depth about the next human Mars flight on the ICSE which is tentatively scheduled for late next year. So the question of the moment is: Do I want to got to Mars again? Well, the answer is yes, but not anytime soon. Maybe when Mars flights take three weeks instesd of three month, then I'll go back.

Day 216
Mood:  happy
We're back! Yesterday, we aerobraked with Earth's atmosphere and met up with the quarantine space station in Earth orbit. The aerobraking with Earth was somewhat more stressfull than with Mars. But as you can see, survived. Keith made what you might call a prelininary estimate of how the ICSE held up against aerobraking. And so far, he says that we came fairly close to breaking up in the atmosphere. And to that, Leonid again said that that's what we got for building such a cheap space ship. That sort of structural integrity might delay the ICSE's next Mars flight by at least two years. But however long the delay, at least we got to go to Mars. Mars, Mars, Mars! Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Day 213
Mood:  energetic
We spent much of the day preparing the ship for aerocapture with Earth. Unlike our aerocature preps for Mars, this aerocapture prep worked flawlessly. The gravity modes were retracted, and our course for Earth orbit was on target. Plus, we're close enough to Earth so that the time lag is only a few seconds.

Day 209
Mood:  a-ok

Melody suggested thst we turn off artificial gravity since we're about a week away from Earth. Leonid decided against it. But to make Melody feel better, I suggsted we send out our telerobotically-opporated probe to examine the gravity mode tether to make sure we don't have the same problem we had when trying to retract gravity mode as we approachd Mars. Of course it was a risky deal, but it worked out. Not only did we find the gravity mode tether to be in good shape, but the telerobotically-operated didn't malfunction at all. It's like we had bad luck going to Mars, but good luck going to Earth. Of course that's just all perception. Because as Penn from Penn and Teller says, luck is when you take probability personally.

Day: 203
Mood:  a-ok
We're about two weeks away from Earth orbit at this point in time. We're still conducting syudies on the Martian samples as well as studies in other scientific areas.

Day 190
Mood:  chillin'

Yup! It was a false alarm. The Mars rock sample didn't have any microbial life after all. Melody and Taira didn't conduct the experiment correctly. Keith and his super-genius brain eventually figured that out. So on the one hand, it was disappointing not to find life on another planet. On the other hand, it's a good thing that Mars is a lifeless planet (seemingly) since it'll give us a very good excuse to colonize the Red Planet. But of course the jury may still be out on the life on Mars issues. Once all the Mars rocks samples are studied more thoroughly in Earth based labs, we'll then have a definitive answer to the question of life on Mars. Hey now!

Day 189
Taira conducted an experiment on a Mars rock sample which seemed to show proof of Martian microbial life. It was a big deal needless to say. Melody replicated the experiment and ended up with the same results despite her skepticism about life on Mars. After that, everybody on the ship got in on this experiment. So far, it looks like we may have discovered life on Mars. But of course further studies will be needed to convince the skeptics among us that that's true.

Day 178
Mood:  bright
It was Leonid's birthday last week. We're also at maximum velocity and are coasting our way to Earth. As we continue toward Earth, we're also condcuting some assorted science research that we now have more time for. Of course the most notable of this research is the study of some of the Mars rock samples aboard. And even Keith isn't as busy as he used to be. The ship's technical problems so far are less than they were when we were on the way to Mars.

Day 140
Mood:  chatty
Last night we had to spend a couple of hours in the ship's command center which also doubles as a radiation shelter due to increase solar activity. Though we are on board a cheap spacehip, the radiatiuon shielding here seems to be pretty good. We even have a "deflector shiled" system to deflect charged particles from the sun. Yup! I always wanted to say this: Activate the deflector shields!