How high and low can you go?
June 10, 2020 8:58 AM   Subscribe

First American Woman To Walk In Space Becomes First Woman To Dive To Deepest Spot On Earth — Kathy Sullivan, a former NASA Space Shuttle astronaut and the frst American woman to walk in space back in 1984, just added another record to her illustrious career by becoming the first woman to visit Challenger Deep — the bottom of the Mariana Trench — during a daring expedition last weekend. She's now also the only human to have ever been up in orbital space and down below at maximum ocean depth (SYFY Wire, Jeff Spry, 6/9/2020). More about the DSV (Deep Submergence Vehicle) Limiting Factor TRITON 36000/2 and its ongoing Ring of Fire Expedition to the Mariana Trench (WP) at Caladan Oceanic.
posted by cenoxo (24 comments total) 27 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well there's a career that's had its ups and downs.
posted by nickmark at 9:13 AM on June 10, 2020 [19 favorites]


This is unbelievably cool.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:24 AM on June 10, 2020


I just can't look at Limiting Factor and not see a face. That can't be by accident, especially when you factor in the sliding cross section view that looks like an open mouth full of teeth. And it's super cool the support ship is called Pressure Drop (whoah yeeeaaahhhhh yeah)
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:40 AM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Wow! Like a science fiction character.
posted by doctornemo at 11:27 AM on June 10, 2020


Previously, on Victor Vescovo and the Limiting Factor.

This is pretty dang cool.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:59 AM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


The eyes and mouth are conical acrylic viewports in the spherical (cutaway image) "Weld-free Titanium Pressure Hull — The defining feature of the Limiting Factor is the 90mm thick pressure hull. Having been machined to within 99.933% of true spherical form, it is testament to the precision engineering that made this DNV-GL certified, reusable, full ocean depth submersible possible."
posted by cenoxo at 12:01 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


The Limiting Factor is a "HADAL EXPLORATION SYSTEM" Full Ocean Depth Triton 36000/2 submersible. For oceanographic explorers on a budget, more affordable Triton models are available.
posted by cenoxo at 12:13 PM on June 10, 2020


She holds the record for the greatest vertical distance ever traveled by any human in history.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:50 PM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Thank you for posting, what tremendous courage and curiosity! I'm glad she got the chance(s).
posted by winesong at 1:53 PM on June 10, 2020


(On-topic because the linked story begins with shots from and description of this movie)

I watched that "Underwater" flick recently. It had some good parts but was ultimately a disappointing Alien knock-off. Part of the problem was the humans and monsters couldn't really be face to face. And while some of the creature design was cool, in the end they went too humanoid with their depictions. I liked Kristen Stewart's performance and it had some good parts, but ultimately? Meh.

But this real-world story is indeed amazing.
posted by SoberHighland at 1:56 PM on June 10, 2020


Way too many of the articles on this trip leave out Sullivan’s more relevant career - she’s an oceanographer and currently ?something big at NOAA, like director?. Can’t quite find the last bit and she doesn’t have a Wikipedia page (!?!!)
posted by clew at 2:00 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


Respect to her. While I can pretty much cope with the idea of being in space with all the radiation and vacuum and everything, the idea of being under six and a half miles of water with over a thousand atmospheres of water pressure just waiting to squish me into a small ball of beef chutney gives me the screaming jibblies. She's a much, much braver person than I am.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:32 PM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


She holds the record for the greatest vertical distance ever traveled by any human in history.

Wouldn't the folks who reached the moon have her beat?
posted by nickmark at 3:05 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


Highest Highs and Lowest Lows. Manic Impressive.
posted by srboisvert at 3:49 PM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


QUEEN!
posted by SinAesthetic at 4:23 PM on June 10, 2020


Once you're out of near orbit, are you really moving "up" any more? The moon isn't exactly "above" the Earth, seems to me. Maybe there are rules for this kind of thing, somewhere...
posted by aramaic at 4:40 PM on June 10, 2020




Farthest distance from Earth reached by humans, Guinness World Records:
Who: APOLLO 13
Where: UNITED KINGDOM () STATES
When: 15 APRIL 1970

The greatest distance from Earth achieved by humans was when the crew of the Apollo 13 were at apocynthion (i.e. their farthest point) 254 km (158 miles) from the lunar surface, on the far side of the Moon, and 400,171 km (248,655 miles) above the Earths surface, at 1:21a.m. BST on 15 Apr 1970.

The crew were Capt. James Arthur Lovell, Jr, USN (b. 25 Mar 1928), Fred Wallace Haise, Jr (b. 14 Nov 1933) and John L. Swigert (1931–82).
And that voyage was by accident (slightly over 50 years ago), not by plan.
posted by cenoxo at 5:49 PM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


farthest distance from home.

posted by clavdivs at 6:04 PM on June 10, 2020


Deepsea Challenge 3D [Amazon link] is a 3D documentary of James Cameron's solo dive to the Mariana Trench. (I have the disc and a 3D TV but have never watched it.)
posted by neuron at 8:34 PM on June 10, 2020


As part of Project Nekton (WP), the first dive of any manned/unmanned) vessel into the 35,797 foot (10,911 meter) Challenger Deep was made by Swiss oceanographer/engineer Jacques Piccard and USN Lieutenant Don Walsh* in the Swiss-built U.S. Navy bathyscaphe Trieste on January 23, 1960.

There’s more about this historic dive in the January 23, 2020 Rolex Magazine article Mankind's Conquest Of Inner-Space — U.S. Navy Bathyscaph Trieste DEEP-SEA Submersible (scroll about 1/3rd down the page to read it).

*During Caladan Oceanic’s current Ring of Fire Expedition, its Dive Series 2 June 17-28, 2020 will take Kelly Walsh, Don Walsh’s son, to the Challenger Deep.
posted by cenoxo at 11:14 PM on June 10, 2020


Second Woman Quickly Follows First to Ocean’s Nadir — The mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien is set to dive to the Challenger Deep, seven miles below the surface of the sea., New York Times, William J. Broad, 6/10/2020:
The second of two women is poised to make history by diving to the ocean’s deepest spot: the Challenger Deep, the lowest point of the Mariana Trench, the greatest of the sea’s many recesses.
...
If waves, technology and weather permit, Vanessa O’Brien, 55, a star of adventure tourism [WP bio], is to dive into the icy abyss on Thursday or Friday. Her moment comes after the plunge on Sunday of Kathy Sullivan, 68, an oceanographer, astronaut and the first American woman to walk in space.

Both women are passengers of Victor L. Vescovo, a wealthy investor [WP bio] who has climbed Mount Everest and last year piloted a mini submarine into the Challenger Deep. His innovative craft is up for sale, and earlier this year a London firm was selling dives on the expedition for $750,000....
Pity that the DSV Limiting Factor only has two seats: where would the kids sit?
posted by cenoxo at 3:09 AM on June 12, 2020




> During Caladan Oceanic’s current Ring of Fire Expedition, its Dive Series 2 June 17-28, 2020 will take Kelly Walsh, Don Walsh’s son, to the Challenger Deep.

Kelly Walsh Follows In Father’s Footsteps To Challenger Deep, Deeper Blue, John Liang, 6/22/2020:
Kelly Walsh this past Father’s Day weekend completed a dive to the Challenger Deep, the same patch of ocean bottom that his father Don Walsh did back in 1960.

The younger Walsh dove to approximately 10,925 meters (35,843 feet) in the Western Pool, the same area that was visited by Kelly’s father, US Navy Captain Don Walsh, who was the pilot of the bathyscaph “Trieste” during the first dive to the Challenger Deep in 1960.

Kelly Walsh’s 12-hour dive, coordinated by EYOS Expeditions, was undertaken aboard the deep-sea vehicle Triton 36000/2 “Limiting Factor” piloted by the owner of the vehicle Victor Vescovo, a Dallas, Texas-based businessman and explorer.

The dives by father and son connect a circle of exploration history that spans 60 years....
More in EYOS Expeditions’ press release (PDF).
posted by cenoxo at 10:33 AM on June 24, 2020


« Older Olof Palme assassination case closed   |   Shut Down STEM Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments