It has been one year since we began preparing our mission, and since we started looking at MDRS pictures, a place which felt so familiar even without ever seeing it with our own eyes.
Today, after a three-hour drive from Grand Junction, we left the highway to reach the station and we finally saw it, the Mars Desert Research Station: a place which has been such a huge part of our lives for the past twelve months.

Upon our arrival, we first took the crew picture in front of the station. We then went
through rover training before being taught every functionality of the station. We
finished late so we could not go and eat a last meal in town before entering the
simulation.