Spoiler alert: we’re alive.

Yesterday

After manual pressurisation of the airlock, the last problem we had to solve was decontamination, without which, according to the mission manual, we could not enter the habitat.

Normally, decontamination lamps inside the airlock do the job. This time however, without electricity and the airlock’s backup systems down, we had to override somehow the system setup and turn the lamps on. This is why such missions like ours is important.

Piotr came up with a brave idea of entering the airlock with backup UPS (not covered by the book, same as situation of me and Grzegorz)… All internal doors closed, crew members separated from the Atrium and airlock. He was ready to open the hatch for a second… just enough to enter the airlock.

So, we were sitting then in three in the airlock, with lamps connected to the UPS, waiting for the decontamination process to be over.

Fortunately, nothing else went wrong this time.

Today

If you ever thought about what is the best cure for the exhausted astronaut that spent yesterday’s evening in the dark and cold airlock, the answer is simple: put the EVA suit on, and go for a walk.

MCC wanted to try if the old lander located near the base could work (you remember the crash of the new lander…), so… as scheduled, I put the EVA suit on, Dorota put the EVA suit on, and we packed ourselves to the airlock.

We spent with Dorota about an hour and a half trying to connect new power supply to the lander and booting up the system. This was a tedious job, but I think we succeeded, and we will try to remotely connect to the lander next time.

Now, we’re opening the airlock doors, as the decontamination process is finished. The dinner is in the air… We’re staying alive.