Chen pulled up the ships specifications one more time, determined to understand it backwards and forwards before departure. He especially studied the Taiwanese Hsinchu engine, as he never trusted the rebel islanders, as they were still considered. He was still reviewing the data when his PDA beeped that the crew were going to have lunch.
He grudgingly put the pad down and made his way down the hall to the caveteria. He immediately spotted Muogo, Yolanda and Isfaheem at a table. Yolanda was an Argentinian woman with a sturdy build and tightly knotted black hair. He found her to be an enormously capable woman. She likely would've been captain if it wasn't for the preferential treatment Chinese people on the mission.
But for Chen, it was especially interesting for him to be teamed up with Isfaheem. The Egyptian man had been the keynote speaker at the Martian Geological Forum last year and Chen was looking forward to picking his brain on theoretical xenobiology.
“Well hello Mr. Chen.” They all greeted him kindly and he bowed to each of them in turn. Yolanda more then anyone felt the increasing tension as they all began to recognize the gravity of the mission. Like every meal, the food itself was an afterthought to the never-ending work of studying and memorizing each and every piece of machinery that they would be shuttling out with them.
Today's discussion centered around the suits they planned to use for the few moments of EVA. The suits would be as bulky and uncomfortable as those of the old moon landing. They would be so heavily insulated that it was, in essence like a miniature spacecraft itself. The environment was so unforgiving that the designers couldn't develop any way for them to use their hands at all. So the suits had extra-long arms with robotic fingers controlled by hands that remained well within the thick arms. The design borrowed from early examples prosthetic technology.
But it was assumed that most of the time they would travel in 'the limo' as it was dubbed. This was a squat cylinder connected to six balloon wheels which would take them on longer trips away from the ship.