September 25, 2017

Mission mars, you are go for launch! said the mission control. You should of seen the the look on the faces of my colleagues. We were all so nervous. A bunch of six inexperienced teenagers on the first mission ever to mars with people on it. I hope it doesn't end up like Apollo 1. The bunch of the six of us contained : Me, who was the captain, the chemist and the engineer; David, who was the co-builder and the explorer; Jeremy, who was the doctor, co-cook and assistant chemist; Francis, who was the architect and second-doctor; Dominic, who was the pilot and co-builder; Ryan, who was the man who helps Dominic. 10, 9, 8, said the mission control 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2... We couldn't hear the rest. And all of a sudden, all of our heads hit the back of the seat at the same time. 30 minutes later, we were in space, on our way to mars!

October 3, 2017
Being in space is so cool. From the first day Ive been in space, I knew I would love it. Its been a week since I saw one of the most gorgeous landscape on Earth, but that was nothing compared to the amount of stars, free in the sky. The cool thing was that we see it all the time, either on one side of the ship or another. Then there was on the ship, where we were literally floating around. From one end of the ship to the other. Then there were the negatives, which were not as many as the positives. Chores. Meetings. Training eight hours a day. But its worth it even for the so little time I can enjoy being in space. It just makes me enjoy it more. Being the captain only makes it worse. I have to give chores to my complaining colleagues.

Well I still love being in space.

December 5, 2017
I woke up to the alarm. Its been about two months that me and my crew have been in space, on my way to mars, and this is the first time I woke up to the oxygen alarm. Then I realised I was the last one awake. Every body looked like they could faint any minute. Exept for Jeremy, who was the assistant chemist. Hey, guys he said, as he looked at the tank meters for some reason, the oxygen tanks blew. All of them. The meter says that we only have 10 minutes of oxygen left. But cant we just replace it? asked Dominic, who was still really sleepy. We have two spare oxygen tanks, but there are five busted ones. said David from the other end of the room, which is where the spares are kept. Because the decision was mine, I said the thing I never thought I would say. Replace the two closest oxygen tanks I told Dominic. Dominic got dressed up right away. Then I realised that the crew was no longer that tired. We will tell you what do do from the inside. said David and then he got right to the computer, ready to give Dominic the instructions on how to change the tanks. I felt so bossy, but I guess thats part of the captains job. Ryan also got suited up, ready to follow Dominic out, to see if every thing was okay. Francis and I went straight to the oxygen meter. Jeremy went to help David, on the other side of the room. It took five minutes for Dominic and Ryan to suit up, enough time for Earth to realise what was going on. We could tell that they were shocked. Dominic went out first, with one of the oxygen tanks in his hand. Ryan followed him out with the other spare tank. Dominic is the first person this far out in space! From across the room, David was speaking into his radio, telling Ryan and Dominic what to do. Being second in command means David is the second most experienced. Jeremy was informing David about what was going on.

Francis and I were staring at the oxygen meter. There was a big difference in between when there was almost no oxygen and the amount that there is now. The crew will still be short of oxygen for almost a month. As soon as the replacements were done, the crew got some exercise and went to sleep.

December 12, 2017

The oxygen still wasnt at its full yet, and Earth told us to slow down, so that the oxygen will reach us before we got to Mars. The crew isnt thinking properly, because of the lack of oxygen. The few days since the burst of the oxygen tanks has been quiet. Every body just doing what they need to do. Most of everybodys spare time was watching the progress of the satellite containing the oxygen. Luckily, the oxygen was approaching with enormous speed. The meter says that it will be here in 14 days. In 16 days, the carbon dioxide will be to high to live in. Along with the oxygen, Earth is sending a water separator. This takes water, separates the oxygen and the hydrogen. Than it traps the hydrogen and uses it to make energy. Because of the delay, we will be on Mars a week late, which means the crew would have to work harder.

December 25, 2017

Its Christmas, and we actually got a Christmas present!, Guess what it was. Oxygen! It arrived a day early. In three days time, the spare oxygen would run out, and there would be no more oxygen. This time Jeremy and David suited up and went to put in the permanent oxygen tanks. At the same time, Dominic and I set up the water separator. The crew was once again thinking properly and back to normal in a couple hours. Most of the crew today just stared thankfully out the window. Even I couldnt believe that we were still well alive and happy continuing our mission. I honestly thought we would be dead by now. Well, its been a super long time since I have had a real breath of fresh air.

Merry Christmas!

March 20, 2018

We were supposed to be landed on mars, today which means we will be landing in less than two weeks. On the ship, some of the preparations are starting. The robots are in preparation and calibration mode. The robots will help with building the central dome, and then they will do stuff like building other houses, separating the oxygen and the carbon in carbon dioxide, and many other useful tasks. We will not go on mars until four weeks after we land. Anyway, I think that is a good thing, because half the team will argue about who will go out first. It will probably be David or Jeremy that will go out first, because they probably suit up before joining that silly fight. The robots will be prepared in five days time, which is one day before we land . Cant wait to walk on mars!

April 4, 2018
Ready for landing, said Dominic from the command module. Put your straps on and lets land on mars!. Next to me, in the spherical module everyone got ready to land. For the next few minutes, the only thing I heard was the clicking of my colleagues getting there straps on. Finally, Dominic joined us in the spherical module. He could only come when we were right above landing spot, and we were going straight down. Two minutes later, we were secured on mars. Dominic jumped out of his seat and said, Perfect landing we all jumped out of our seats and started celebrating the moment with him. Five minutes later, which was while we were still giving each other high fives, A ton of messages came in from around the world (only some in languages I understood) congratulating us on landing on a planet other than the Earth. It seemed to be the best feeling ever. Somehow, though I didnt understand, I felt relived, proud, elated, and had a sense of accomplishment.

After about two hours, we had about 8 000 000 000 messages, which is about the number of people in the world. Finally, there were no more messages coming in. We started sending the robots out on mars. We gave them all the materials and programmed them to start building. These are the most advanced robots in the world, and very strong to. Mars looks so cool, I cant believe Im here.

April 22, 2018

This day would be even more famous than July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong took a step on the moon. Similar, but this time, its mars. I could tell that five minutes (the time it takes for the TV wave to travel from mars to Earth) after the step was taken, all TVs in the world were announcing Jeremy Kitagawa, takes the first step on mars!. I was like Buzz Aldrin, who was the second on the moon. Then David, then Francis, then Dominic, then Ryan. The first six to ever set foot on the mars. Luckily, it wasnt a day of messages. The central dome of mars was completed by the robots, so we moved there. It was amazing how good it was. Oxygen, gravity. Just like home. Actually so good that my colleagues just slept. But I decided to write this first.

May 30, 2018

I woke up today and I knew something was wrong. I spilt a whole bunch of water on the breakfast table. I scratched my knee during training. But worst of all, one of the robots that separate oxygen and traps the carbon went haywire. The robot is tearing down section 316 of our compound. said Ryan. Its a wild disaster said Francis. I told them to surround the robot with as much permafrost as they need and then take out permafrost when the robot has run out of battery.

By the end of the day, the robot the robot had run out of battery. Jeremy and David tore down the permafrost, and then Francis repaired the robot and put it back out on the field. Dominic just came back from installing mirrors around mars to warm it up. We still kept it bellow zero so the water wouldnt flood the compound.

January 21, 2019

So far, our mission on mars is going good. We installed super tall permafrost walls so that the water wouldnt flood the compound. We warmed mars a little bit more, so that the temperature was about room temperature. After we flooded it, we got the robots to dig oceans. there were so many robots, they got the job done in half an hour. Other robots are putting volcanic soil on the surface of the compound. They are making sure it was even in all places, and enough soil to plant in. We already separated and caught most of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Tanks are now adding the hydrogen and all the other gazes that make up the earths atmosphere. Some robots dug holes in a far away place om mars. They will stop digging when they reach the core. They are almost at there destination. Then, a robot will put a super heavy weight in the middle of mars, that would make that half of mars fall on its self. But it is so far away, the prediction says it will only feel a faint shake. On the already secured volcanic soil, Jeremy planted all sorts of fruit and vegetable seeds. The crew thinks the food is way better than on Earth. Terraforming mars is funner than I expected.

September 10, 2019

The mission is almost complete! For the last eight months, we were just expanding the compound. That means that the mission was more successful than expected. Maybe work on mars is easier than on Earth.

But as we were getting on the ship, we noticed that Dominic was under the ship. He told me that he needed to do some adjustments. He told me that, if he didnt do those adjustments we would definitely die on the way back. He said that he would be done at 2am. I asked him if I could help him, but he said no. So today we just sat around just talking about how much we love being on mars, and what we will miss the most. For those questions, the crew responded in super big paragraphs. I hope Dominic will be finished with the ship by tomorrow.

September 11, 2019

We woke up very early in the morning, today. As soon as we woke up we got into spherical module. We slept on the ship today, so we wouldnt waste any time. We are already late for takeoff. Well, at least Dominic was done with the adjustments. We took of at 3am international time. Six months and we would be back in the Atlantic ocean! Four fifths of the mission is over! Now, its the return home. The last chapter. All the work that the crew had completed seems all done. But the journey is not over yet. There are still chores to be done, things to look after, even if we are done on mars. The crew cant decide if they would like to stay on mars or not. They would love to stay on mars, but they also want to go back to Earth as well. they miss there family, friends, every body. So even I am glad to go back to Earth.

February 2, 2020
I didnt know what it was. I thought it might be that we were going slower than we were supposed to go. Or maybe Earth wanted us to bring more mars rocks. And then it hit me. we left a day late! We were supposed to land today. I knew it wasnt just me when Dominic told me that we need to change directions. He said that we will only be able to land in 10 days time. I guess that is better than nothing.

So we have to wait another week and a half before we land in the Atlantic ocean. Suddenly, the ship changed directions and we started for were the Earth will be in 10 days. Its so nice to have a trained pilot on board a ship traveling to mars.

February 11, 2020

At least we didnt miss the Earth completely. We will definitely land tomorrow. That is lucky, because not everybody is doing there job correctly. Every body is taking shortcuts. The only one I dont blame is Dominic, cause he is doing a very good job at actually getting us back to Earth. The oxygen dropped four notches in one hour and nobody felt like turning on the water separator. Finally, I explained to them what would happen if the carbon dioxide passed 15 and we were then at 14.9. They all ran (if running is possible on a spacecraft) to switch on the water separator. I felt like they were very tired, and maybe very repulsive. But most likely they just cant wait to be home.

February 12, 2020

Today, we landed on Earth. The entering of the Earths atmosphere was at a super high temperature. Everybody is so happy to be back home. After two and a half years of hard work, they were so exited to see there family. They were all so proud of being the fist ones on mars. When my family saw me, they were so proud of me. Its been two and a half years since Ive last seen them. I have survived this journey. I am proud of it

March 17, 2021

I remember very clearly how we landed on mars, terraformed it and all of that. Earth is sending a second crew up onto mars. I told them that I would skip this trip. Jeremy and David are going back up. They will triple the livable space on mars. The second crew is going to be thirty people, and four times as much material than us. They will also build residential houses. Along with us, Russia and the United states are also sending crews up. They will be helping our crew out. There will be a total of over 300 people on mars. I decided I want to be more of an astronomer than an astronaut. I cant believe mars was conquered with my help. It feels so great.