This is our series of supplemental logs that were taken from our scientific research expedition to RMS Titanic earlier last month. I hope that you enjoy!
It is such an orchestrated production watching the MIR submersible team launch the MIRs into the ocean. Everyone does their assigned task with precision accuracy. Watching up from the MIR launching pad, you see the entire production unfold around you in a brilliant display of teamwork. Before the dive, plenty of photographs are taken. MIR I has just launched with my good friends from Arizona named Brian Day O'Connor and Eric Crown. Brian is a world-class mountain climber and adventurer while Eric is the founder and former CEO of the Insight Company. The pilot for MIR I today is veteran Titanic pilot Victor Nescheta. There are two support boats that facilitate the launching of the MIRs. The first boat is a rugged, twenty foot craft called Koresh (which means companion) that tows the MIRs away from Keldysh to their assigned location to dive. The other boat is a zodiac that carries divers that release the MIRs from both the Keldysh crane and Koresh. These divers are known as cowboys and they get their names for literally riding the MIRs at times like a bucking bronco.
The MIRs were refit for an extended period of time last year. During this refit, they created a newer, more stable ladder to allow MIR aquanauts a easier way to get on to the top area of the submersible where the hatch is located. Once you climb the ladder, you sit down beside the hatch and take off your shoes. After some last photo moments waving from atop of the MIR, you descend the hatchway into the MIR by using a small ladder. In this case, I was the first to enter the MIR, followed by Rob Goldsmith and our pilot, Genya Cherniev. The size of the capsule of the MIR is about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and it is very small. Although there is plenty of headroom, the length of the two observers areas are only five feet so you will be in a modified fetal position for the next thirteen hours. Once inside the MIR, I took my position on the starboard side of the submersible and watched the hatch slowly sealed. It is time to return to Titanic!
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