FMARS Sponsors	FMARS Crew 10 Initial Report - July 7, 2005 Andy Wegner - Enroute to Mars It is ten minutes past 0700; the planes's engines are winding; the cabin agent is giving her spiel. By now my wife is on her way home from the airport, left to tend home and family. Thoughts of the mission ahead intrude, but a sense of loss prevails -- 34 days apart the longest since we met over 16 years ago. Her parting words: "be careful; come home safely." Wheels up. We fight the gravity of one planet; I am bound for another -- if only in mind and simulation. Five others are in transit, or soon will be, our common destination an outpost village on a small island in the Arctic Ocean of Canada's far north. This will be our staging area, Resolute Bay, for a flight even further north -- to Devon Island. There, on a the rim of an ancient meteor crater sits the Flashline Mars Analog Research Station, empty and waiting, waiting for us to bring it back to life. No place on Earth is more like Mars, and it is here we will live and work for the next four weeks, researching some of the problems that will face the first explorers to the red planet. The United States is now officially committed to the manned exploration of Mars, and privately-funded research has and will continue to play an essential role. It is for this we go to the extremes of the Earth. Yes, I look forward to getting to know my fellow crewmembers, and to enjoy a new environment, but I believe each of us also brings a seriousness to our mission, a common reslove that it is in humanity's interest to reach beyond our home planet. On to Mars!
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