Aquanauts Complete Task

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30879, 12 October 1965, Page 21

Aquanauts Complete Task

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LA JOLLA (California), Oct. 11. The last 10-man crew of aquanauts ascended from the floor of the Pacific Ocean yesterday, ending a highly successful 45-day United States Navy experiment in underwater living.

They tode up from Sealab 11, a 12ft by 58ft steel chamber, 205 ft below the surface, in a pressurised capsule lifted by a winch. “Sealab II has proved that

man can successfully do work for extended periods of time at depths under high pressure at the bottom of the ocean,” a Navy spokesman said. “This is basically what we set out to prove.” Two previous 10-man crews had remained in Selab II for 15-day periods, except for two aquanauts who stayed below for 30 days. They were the astronaut, Scott Carpenter, and Lieutenant Robert Sonnenburg, an Army Medical Corps doctor. Carpenter was a member of

both the first and second teams and Sonnenburg was with the second and third teams.

Sealab 11, which rests on the ocean bottom about 1000 yards off shore, will be towed on Wednesday to the Navy base at Long Beach, California, for examination and removal of equipment. The team of aquanauts who ascended today spent most of their time testing salvage procedures that could possibly be applied in aeroplane and ship disasters.