Despite many obstructions and unfortunate incidents happening in the final phase of the ship's construction, we have managed to connect all the modules and the expedition could start at last.
There is a lot of gossip among the crew concerning what, or rather who was behind the events which caused the delay. The official statement pointed at human error, a direct result of employees' mistakes, but there were people among the staff who knew a slightly different truth - though it was not the officially announced scenario, some claimed there were no accidents or someone's errors, but intentional sabotage. And those who were spreading this news also mentioned it was a large scale operation.
According to estimates from before the explosion in the dock, the time required for the completion was much shorter than originally planned, but the damage managed to result in a noticeable delay.
Cause behind the explosion was not relevant here, and what mattered was the fact that our departure was moved by about a month. I'm actually quite amazed we ended up leaving despite of all these problems.
So, here we are, on board of Future, a ship which is to bring us to our destination, labeled as a hope for the whole humanity - a new planet, called the New Gaia.
We might not have travelled a long distance yet, but there is already a certain amount of unrest among the crew. And reasons are many. Many people are concerned if the ship's construction will be able to withstand the toil of space travel. After all, numerous dangers awaited them, including various space debris, radiation and inter-system jump.
Those in the know were not so worried about the ship's structure, but among them there were people who also knew about true side of the accident which caused the delay, making them afraid of any such act, though it also meant they are extra careful now.
So far, we successfully reached the Mars orbit, where we are proceeding with loading supplies and additional equipment, which could not be procured on Earth due to various reasons. I don't know how much longer we will have to stay here, but the time calmly passes by with our daily routines. It's only our first week onboard, so most of us is still getting accustomed to the new circumstances, but it's not boring for sure.
With numerous duties awaiting us on the New Gaia, each person in the crew has to participate in training within groups they were assigned to. This approach is supposed to prepare every staff member both for performing their individual duties and functioning in new environment. Currently, it is essential especially for those who joined the expedition at the very last moment, since they do not have such a good knowledge about the project as their seniors.
Personally, I find this solution a really good idea from the project management. And it's not because I doubt in their ability to handle responsibilities without the additional training. They are all specialists in their respective fields after all. However, the situation looks different when we take into consideration the environment, not only the one on the planet, but also the people around them with whom they will have to cooperate. I believe getting to know your colleagues, with whom you are going to spend the next several years is by no means less important than learning the planet's topography or participating in physical trainings preparing bodies for the new conditions.
It doesn't mean there are no people with individual curriculum though. Those whose responsibilities make them miss the schedule of standard groups are provided with personal, targeted training. Moreover, from what I've learned, there are at least several dozens of people who were allowed to modify their plans, given they attend compulsory activities.
While it can be considered a special treatment, I hope there will be no complaints about the individual plans. After all, there is no such thing as permission for part of the crew to skip work at the cost of others - quite contrary to that, those with individual plans often had even more responsibilities than those with standard curriculum. Besides, every person in the staff had their own jobs to do over the course of the expedition, so there were no person to sit idly.
Assigning tasks to everyone was a key part for planning the whole mission. Continuous inactivity would have been the worst thing for anyone during an over two years long travel in a closed, limited space, in artificial environment to boot. Just imagine only people piloting the ship and responsible for its functions were to work, while all the others had free time at their disposal - not only the first group would have been dissatisfied, but lack of assignments could have a bad influence on their mental health. Being here, we simply need work, and cannot stay idle to not get crazy.
Another thing is that we are going into unknown parts of the Universe, where no person ever set foot. It would have been an utmost stupidity as to not make the best use of every moment to prepare for what awaits us - after all, despite all the probes we have sent, our knowledge about this new planet is scarce. And even after many years, once we learn about it more, it will still continue to surprise us, same as Earth and Mars.
That is why, if we are to survive and return with new knowledge, even the smallest details are important.