T-18 days and counting

Mariusz Słonina
Jul 27, 2017 · 2 min read

While the PMAS — Poland Mars Analogue Simulation is launching within the next few days, we are finalising our preparations for the Lunar Expedition 1 mission. We already passed medical checks, which makes us confident, that we are ready for the two-week isolation in the lunar-simulated environment of the Lunares habitat. And we are just about to start the habitat procedures training this weekend. Once the PMAS crew will enter the habitat at Monday, we will enter the last phase of preparations for our mission.

We were involved in this project from the very beginning. We were choosen as a first Polish analog astronaut crew to conduct a first analog lunar simulation in Poland, in a first Polish analog habitat. The Lunar Expedition 0 was conducted last summer in Rzepiennik Biskupi (more on the mission here). Now, we are about to conduct a follow-up mission in the modular habitat located at the airport of Piła, right after the PMAS.

For all of us it will be a new experience, and by all I mean both the crew, the Mission Control and organizers. The two-week analog missions with full crew isolation were never conducted in Poland before. Last year, probably no one thought that it would be possible to conduct two consequent and different missions, one after another: the Martian one, during which the communication channels will be delayed to simulate radio signals travelling from the Earth to Mars and back, and the second — with local mission clock shifted, as a lunar jet-lag. Finally, no one ever thought that analog simulations will become a fact, here, in Poland. We are still far from the real human spaceflight in our country, yet we believe, that these small steps leads us in the right direction.

Last but not least, let me introduce the Lunar Expedition 1 crew:

  • Piotr Konorski
    Commander
  • Mariusz Słonina
    Vice-commander and media officer
  • Dorota Budzyń
    Communication commander
  • Joanna Kuźma
    Astrobiologist
  • Grzegorz Ambroszkiewicz
    Biomedical engineer
  • Matt Harasymczuk
    Medical officer

We will introduce ourselves within the next week, and for now, let the official countdown clock start!

#lunarexpedition1

Lunar Expedition 1

An official diary of the Lunar Expedition 1 simulation

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