Mission Journal 15 — Marc Reagan: 1 Day After Mission: Thursday, July 22nd, 2004
Greetings all,
The NEEMO 6 mission ended yesterday morning on a gorgeous, flat calm Floriday day. The crew finished deco and were guided slowly to the surface by a pair of safety divers. They “splashed up” at approximately 9:00 am. All were healthy and in great spirits. They enjoyed a leisurely lunch of Thai food and spent the afternoon unwinding and resting. We all participated in the splashup party with many of the local people that have supported us in the last few weeks to celebrate the success of the mission. The party took place at a private residence on the ocean, and we all observed a moment of silence at sunset while 7 white doves were released in honor of the Columbia crew. They circled overhead a few times, and then disappeared into the twilight sky.
On behalf of the crew and Topside Team, we’d like to extend our thanks to all those who supported this mission and made it possible:
- JSC’s Engineering Directorate, for your vision, funding, manpower, hardware, and real spaceflight engineering objectives to make the mission meaningful;
- JSC’s Mission Ops Directorate, for the majority of the manpower that keeps this project alive year by year, as well as your unflagging support;
- JSC’s Flight Crew Ops Directorate, the manpower, support, and (majority of the) crew;
- The staff at the National Undersea Research Center for running a world class operation, keeping Aquarius viable, and keeping the whole operation safe and sound;
- Previous NEEMO crews who helped pave the way; and
- The families and friends of all of us who’ve been away so long making this mission a success. We appreciate your sacrifices
Stay tuned for NEEMO 7, our first international mission, which will be focused on telemedicine and telerobotic operations. We are already gearing up for it, as it starts in October.
NEEMO Topside Team out.