As the crew was assigned by Mission Support, MDRS was their initial personal interaction. The crew developed as a productive team to effectively conduct Mars simulation and scientific experiments.

Crew 97 was led by Commander Judah Epstein, who is a veteran at MDRS. He is a worldwide adventurer with various experience and training, educated and worked as an engineer, and currently in training as a geologist.

The Executive Officer and Human Factors Researcher, Jim Crowell, is a student in Earth and Space Exploration. Jim is also an avid adventurer and works at NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.

Amanda Damptz is the Crew's Geologist who is studying Earth and Environmental Science. Amanda has experience working at the EPA as well as NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Lucinda Land is the Crew's Automated Exploration Scientist. Lucinda is the Executive Director of the Mars Society, science teacher, and works at NASA Ames organizing the Spaceward Bound program.

Tonya Thompson is the Crew Usability Engineer. Tonya is a PhD student in Human Computer Interaction and Complex Systems. Additionally she is a NASA research fellow and works at the NASA Ames Research Center.

The Crew Engineer is Nathan Wong who is studying Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics. Nathan also works at NASA, at the Glenn Research Center and Marshall Space Flight Center.

Although each day in Martian simulation was a unique adventure, there was a sort of regularity to the schedule. The crew awoke at 07:30am each morning for breakfast. And as astronauts to Mars would do to maintain muscle balance in zero or reduced gravity, the crew did morning exercises such as stretching, leg exercises, pushups, and situps.

During the day activities were conducted such as a morning EVA, lunch, one to three afternoon EVAs, engineering maintenance and repair, scientific analysis, and psychophysiological testing on each crew-member three times throughout each day to measure effective emotional response to digital images and sounds in a spacehab environment.

The evenings consisted of dinner and then report writing, followed by individual tasks such as scientific analysis of collected data. All crew-members participated in a rotation in which one day of every three days the crew-member was assigned to cooking and cleaning duties and was allotted the opportunity to take a (cold) shower.

Along with the participation in the ongoing Mars Society experiment of the Food Study, Crew 97 has conducted several unique and innovative experiments relevant to our crew's diverse skill-sets.

Crew 97 conducted the following experiments within the constraints of simulation through ExtraVehicular Activities (EVAs) and in-Hab analysis:

+ Psychophysiological and Perceived Affective Response to Valenced Images and Sounds in a Simulated Mars Habitat

+ Sedimentary Water Filtration in a Planetary Environment

+ Rock Varnish Collection and analysis for life-forms

+ Satellite Imagery Comparison Study

+ Geologic Water Gully and Slush Flow Analysis

+ Examination and analysis of the usability of the Hab and EVA activities in regards to efficiency, human factors, and personalization in a confined space and limited resources+ Sandstorm Martian Robotic Rover and Gigapan Testing

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