The Waypoint 7 event of the Apollo 14 expedition on March 9th, 2025 included SRV races and an impromptu bit of formation flying through canyons on the surface of Eorm Breae MT-D c27-21 3 a. This was my first SRV race despite having played the game since the beginning of its 10 year run and it was quite a bit of chaotic fun on the icy surface.

Commander Yanick hovered in a ship nearby and used a lower power laser as the starting line, which he shut off after a countdown to zero. We did a few races overall, but during one of them we did have one fatality when an SRV hit a terrain ramp of sorts, became airborne (or is it spaceborne), and struck the shield of Yanick's ship, exploding on impact. I didn't catch that as I had already fallen a bit behind, fishtailing about on the slick surface as I tried to figure out the best way to race with a Scarab SRV. Luckily a friendly fleet carrier was in orbit so a quick trip there to resupply meant only a 10 minute delay before the next race.

The last bit of the surface event involved an impromptu canyon flight. Space is a big place, and playing solo or even in small private groups you rarely see a lot of other ships so it's a treat to see other commanders playing "in open" showing off their paint jobs. More than a couple of commanders on this trip had paid ARX for the Mandalay exploration ship before it went onto the open market. I'll be building one of those after this expedition given its ability to get even longer jump range than my Krait Phantom and its much smoother Super Cruise Overdrive flight.

Despite more exobiology scanning I haven't yet made it to Elite III rank. The exploration credit earnings needed to hit the next level go up significantly with each tier so I'm not sure I will have enough exploration time to reach it during this trip.