An amazing thing happened on January 23, 1960, 47 years ago. A deep sea vessel called Trieste touched down on the ocean floor under almost seven miles of water. And what could be more amazing? There were two men inside when it happened.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the Ocean, it’s lowest point 35, 798 feet, or 6.78 miles below sea level. The trench is located in Micronesia near the island of Guam.
On January 23, navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Jacques Picard, son of the ship’s designer (Auguste Picard), slowly descended into uncharted territory.
It took them five hours to reach the bottom, and in total they spent less than twenty minutes on the ocean floor. When they touched down they somehow regained radio contact with the ship seven miles above them. They related what they saw, flounders and soles and even shrimp, and three hours later Picard and Walsh and the Trieste were back on the surface, alive and well.
All of this happened nearly fifty years ago, and the most amazing thing of all, to me, is that in the forty seven years since, no one has ever repeated the feat, nor is there a ship or vessel in existence today, TODAY, with all of man’s advancements and scientific know-how, that could make the trip.
Why are we spending so much money to explore outer space when there are so many areas left unexplored on our own planet? Who knows? The cure for cancer may live under a rock on the ocean floor 35,000 feet below sea level. Shouldn’t we check it out before we spend 2 trillion dollars to go back to Mars?
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