Table of Contents

Dave Williams – Journal

Training day

Diary of an Aquanaut, Training Day 1

It has been 34 years since I first wanted to live on an underwater habitat. My dream at age seven was to fly in space, but at that time it did not seem possible, so instead my goals shifted to wanting to learn to scuba dive and live in an underwater habitat. My favorite TV shows included "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau," and watching the coverage of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. It never occurred to me that I would ultimately fly in space as a Canadian Space Agency astronaut before realizing my dream of living underwater in an environment some have called "inner space." Today has reinforced what I learned during astronaut selection—that dreams can come true with hard work, patience and persistence.

Our crew for this mission includes Bill Todd (CDR), myself (MS1), and astronauts Mike Lopez-Alegria and Mike Gernhardt. The day started with introductions to the dive team at the National Undersea Research Center. This is the team that will oversee our joint NASA/NOAA mission to the Aquarius underwater habitat located in 60 feet of water close to Key Largo in Florida. After the introductions, our team got down to the challenge of a timed 400-metre swim followed by ten minutes treading water using only our legs!

With continued encouragement from our flight surgeon Jean-Marc Comtois, we went on to perform a 25-metre underwater swim. This was followed by more exercises to demonstrate to us the potential challenge of running out of air underwater—an important lesson for an aquanaut! After lectures on our technical diving equipment and a quick lunch we found ourselves headed seaward for a 50-minute dive in which we practiced a number of different diving procedures to familiarize ourselves with the new equipment.

Tomorrow is an early start with lectures at 8:00 followed by a dive at 10:00.

Diary of an Aquanaut, Training Day 3

Today's schedule was changed due to weather and sea forecasts predicting high winds and sea swells of three to five feet. Due to difficulty diving in waves greater than five feet we wanted to complete our diving objectives before the waves became too large. Following a quick briefing on tether protocols where we learned to set tether lines to help us return to the habitat, and search for our buddy in low visibility situations, we boarded the boat for two dives to practice our tether protocols.

The first dive to 45 feet gave us a chance to practice the tether procedures we had learned on dry land. The second dive was more of a challenge, as we had to use the same techniques that we had practiced earlier after removing our face masks. With the salt water stinging our eyes we worked with our buddies to find the lines that would lead us back to the habitat. By the time we finished the second dive the sea swells were up to five feet, so we headed back to dock for further briefings.

The lectures in the afternoon reviewed compass procedures and underwater navigation. After the lecture we practiced our skills by navigating in the street with towels over our heads to block our vision while we used our compasses to go from one point to another! The last lecture before dinner reviewed night-diving procedures—an important briefing for our team due to the number of night dives scheduled in our timeline. After a quick dinner break we got back together for lectures on underwater video photography and practice time with the cameras. Tomorrow the weather forecast predicts sea states too high for diving so we will spend part of the day in lectures followed by an afternoon off. As the pace of our training continues our team of aquanauts is getting more and more excited about going into saturation.

Diary of an Aquanaut, Training Day 4

Today was scheduled to be a day off due to high winds in the vicinity of the habitat causing large waves that prevented us from diving. We spent the morning in lectures reviewing the emergency procedures for the habitat as well as a number of the life-support systems. The training has been excellent and many of the potential emergencies we have been trained to deal with are similar to those we are trained to manage on the shuttle and space station. Fire is always a concern in such environments and we reviewed the importance of prevention, early detection and immediate actions as well as escape procedures to leave the habitat if necessary. After lunch each aquanaut was examined by the Navy doctor who will be supporting the mission. The exam focused on a detailed neurological exam as a pre-mission baseline. This is of particular importance as one of the risks of saturation diving is decompression sickness. Also known as the bends, this is a medical complication of diving where ascending from depth too quickly can cause gas bubbles to form in tissues. If these bubbles form around joints they produce pain, if they occur in the brain or spinal cord they can produce a wide range of neurological symptoms. A detailed neurological examination pre-mission helps with the early diagnosis of the bends.

Jean-Marc has also been providing medical support for the mission and has become a close member of our team. He has been diving with us on all of our training dives. His enthusiasm and ever-present willingness to help has been a tremendous contribution to the team. We will miss him when we are underwater and will look forward to his visits to the habitat.

Monika and Mark, are the two NASA back-up aquanauts who have been training with our team. Our team of six aquanauts has become very close throughout the training and it will seem strange not to have our back-ups with us on the habitat. Fortunately, they will be diving daily to photograph our research activities on the reef so we will have a chance to work together underwater.

Tomorrow we will be back to a full day of training with two dives and science briefings scheduled.

Diary of an Aquanaut, Training Day 5

Although we were scheduled for an 8:00 a.m. departure to complete two training dives, the weather was not cooperating. High winds, driving rain, thunder and lightning conspired to keep us ashore. The extra time was put to good use as we used it to complete our "podding" list of clothes and equipment that would be brought down to the habitat for us.

Fortunately the weather started to improve and by 10:30 we were onboard the research dive boat wearing our wetsuits heading out to the habitat in a light rain. The wetsuits gave us protection from the rain and kept us warm as the boat bounced through the three- to five-foot swells. When we arrived at the mooring buoy near the habitat everyone wanted to get underwater as soon as possible, to the tranquility we are becoming so used to.

The first dive gave us a tour of the underwater terrain to the northeast of the habitat. To start, we swam down toward the gazebo; a small stand with an air-filled upper section that gives the aquanauts a chance to talk to each other, communicate with the habitat and refill our tanks. The gazebo is at the end of the northeast excursion line that leads back to the habitat. After practicing the procedure to fill our tanks we left the gazebo to swim along the excursion line to the habitat. This was the first time we had a chance look at the underwater terrain surrounding the habitat. The tropical reef fish were plentiful and a five-foot nurse shark swam by unperturbed by the presence of eight divers. After swimming by the habitat our group surfaced for ten minutes to help remove the nitrogen which had dissolved in our body tissues while at depth.

After our brief surface interval, we returned to the bottom to practice deploying safety buoys to the surface. These buoys are another component of the extensive training we had in emergency procedures. After each of us had a chance to successfully deploy our buoys, we finished the dive by following a different excursion line to a gazebo located southeast of the habitat. A warm shower was appreciated by all when we got back to the dock.

Despite two busy dives we continued our training with briefings on the major marine-science objectives of the mission. We will be evaluating coral growth in different parts of the reef and performing water sampling to determine nutrient concentrations for NOAA scientist Dr. Steve Miller.

Tomorrow will be our last day of training before we enter the habitat. We are all looking forward to the mission and eagerly await our transition from aquanaut candidates to aquanauts.

Diary of an Aquanaut, Training Day 6

This morning we started our first briefing at 10 a.m. with a review of the mission objectives and EVA activities. Due to the complexity of dives outside the habitat and the similarity to spacewalks, we decided that we would call these dives EVAs (extravehicular activities). By the time we finished the briefing, it was time to get ready for our final training dive. The final step for our team was a tour of the inside of the habitat and a review of our safety and emergency procedures.

The rain that started yesterday had diminished to a mild drizzle as we boarded the boat for the habitat. We would not be using our technical diving gear on this dive as we simply wanted to get down to the habitat as quickly as possible. The scuba gear for the dive seemed simple by comparison, and all of us felt much less restricted as we swam down. Entering the habitat through the wet porch we immediately noted a different sound to our voice in the denser air of the habitat 50 feet underwater. Ryan and Mark, the NOAA habitat technicians assigned to the mission, were there to greet us and show us around. A long week of training was brought together as they reviewed the many safety procedures that would ensure mission success. With tremendous reluctance we left the habitat and swam back to the boat. As on the day prior to a shuttle launch, we were all feeling the excitement build and looking forward to the first NASA/NOAA mission on Aquarius. Tomorrow will be an exciting day starting with the "splashdown" swim to the habitat scheduled for 10 a.m.

Mission day

Diary of an Aquanaut, Mission Day 1

This morning we boarded the boat in a light rain and headed southeast to the Aquarius habitat. The waves were about four feet high, but seemed larger as we bounced our way towards our new home for the next week. There was a low-lying sea fog obscuring the horizon, and Fred our boat captain did an excellent job in taking us to a mooring by the life support buoy above the habitat. After donning our technical diving gear we entered the water in buddy pairs, and, at 9:56 a.m., started swimming down to the world's only scientific underwater habitat. 

In contrast to the eight and a half minute flight to space where seven million pounds of thrust propel us to low-Earth orbit, the leisurely swim to the habitat seemed quite surreal. We arrived at the habitat and checked in with the Aquarius crew before starting our first EVA (dive outside the habitat). We left at 10:04—four aquanauts embarking on their first real dive from an underwater habitat. We followed the excursion line to the southeast way station in an area called the pinnacle. 

After exploring the terrain adjacent to the way station, Mike LA and Mike G (Aquanaut team Bravo) entered the way station to top off their tanks. When they finished, Bill and I entered to fill ours while team Bravo went to explore the excursion line, since it leads back to the habitat. It was quite unusual to be standing upright in the way station 50 feet below the surface and also to be able to communicate with the habitat. We left the way station to swim back along the excursion line taking the same path that Mike and Mike had just taken.

We took our time, savoring every minute as we looked at the reef that we now inhabited. In the past scuba diving had seemed somewhat like taking a walk in the woods—a chance to visit and linger, enjoying the surroundings but not really feeling a part of them. Transitioning to an Aquanaut was like staying out in the wilderness and actually becoming a part of the nature. It was an amazing realization for both of us. Our inner thoughts were interrupted when we saw a small spotted eel about 18" long swimming under coral. There were teeth marks evident about a quarter of the way from its tail—testimony to the harsh reality of living on a reef with larger sea creatures. Further along the excursion line we noticed a large six-foot moray eel coiled underneath an outgrowth of coral. Its mouth opened and closed circulating water over gills that extract oxygen from the water for it to breath. As we continued along the excursion line we noticed that, in addition to the ever- present barracuda, a small black-tipped reef shark was cruising by. As we pproached the habitat, the reef fish were numerous and colourful. Their underwater dance was a spectacular performance welcoming us back.

We finished the dive at 11:53 entering the wet deck to clean our equipment, refill the tanks, shower and dry off for lunch. Lunch was provided by our JSC and was made up of space food that was left over from space station increment 2. We had lime Gatorade, hot-and-sour soup, buttered rice with sweet-and-sour pork, and a quick desert of brownies. The last time I had eaten space food was 150 miles above Earth during the STS-90 mission in 1998. Now, three years later I was eating similar food living 50 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.

Our second dive was along the northeast excursion line leaving the habitat at 3:15 p.m. We headed toward the way station as a team of four aquanauts and immediately noticed the difference in visibility from the dive earlier in the day. The marine life was similar to that of earlier in the day, except that there were no companions swimming in formation with us. We returned to the way station to fill our tanks and later returned to the habitat after 1:06 minutes exploring.

Getting settled in the habitat did not take much time as we placed our clothes by the bunks and put the sheets on the bedding. Dinner was at 7:30 pm with an appetizer of rice and beans, followed by a dinner roll, chicken fajitas and cheese, lemon-lime drink and Snickers for desert. After the sunset in the surface whorl above us we turned on the habitat lights to see schools of fish swimming around the portholes. Lightning from a storm far away could be seen from underwater and was somewhat reminiscent of seeing lightning flashes from space at night. During dinner we had a quick videoconference with Monika and Mark to review the schedule for tomorrow. I am sure it will be an exciting day!!

Diary of an Aquanaut Mission Day 2

Today started with crew wake-up at 6:00 a.m. (EDT). Most of us crawled out of bed at 6:15 a.m. and prepared our Kona coffee with the instant hot water.

During breakfast we got a briefing from Ryan on using the Nikon Coolpix camera in the Ikelite underwater housing. We will be using this camera for our reef science experiment and also to get some crew photos while doing EVAs (dives) outside the habitat. Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with brown sugar, vegetable quiche with melted cheese on top and tobasco sauce for a little extra flavor. Fortunately we found a large bag of Kona coffee so we could have more with breakfast.

Our first night underwater marked the important transition to the group of about 900 aquanauts worldwide. This physiologically occured once we were past the no decompression limit of 100 minutes for 50 feet but traditionally it seems it is the first sleep underwater that is particularly memorable for aquanauts. In contrast to space where the novelty of sleeping in the absence of gravity is the biggest challenge on the first night of a mission, sleeping underwater was remarkable for the incredible view out the porthole in the sleeping area looking at the fish illuminated by the habitat lights.

It seemed like we were looking at a 36" circular aquarium which in reality represented the new environment we were living in. With such a compelling and entertaining view I took an extra 30 minutes to fall asleep, impressed with the tranquil harmony of the fish swimming in and out of the light.

The noises in the habitat were quietly audible and provided a reassuring hum that all of the environmental control and life support systems were functioning normally.

At 7:30 am (EDT) Bill and I started suiting for our first EVA (dive) of the day. This was an excursion down the S4 line to perform an evaluation of the Kirby Morgan super mask that has integrated communications capability.

We checked transmission and reception of the mask at 5 M intervals down the excursion line in four different orientations to the habitat. Bill and I made it out to 85 M before we had to return to the habitat and terminate the dive. During the dive our attention was focused primarily on completing the test objectives but we were able to have a look at the marine life in our vicinity. We saw 2 Southern Sting Rays and a number of barracuda. After we returned to the habitat we switched places with Mike G. and Mike L.A. and they continued the equipment test on a different excursion line to the north east of the habitat.

Lunch preparation started after Mike and Mike returned and we got together to enjoy a meal of minestrone soup, broccoli au gratin, more vegetable quiche and Kona coffee. During lunch Jean-Marc and Rod came by for a quick visit and waved at us through the porthole by our dining table in the main habitat. We exchanged greetings and got some great photos before they had to leave for the surface.

After lunch we immediately got suited for a team EVA with all 4 aquanauts rendezvousing with Dr. Steve Miller for further training on the reef science experiment. It was a personal thrill to meet Dr. Joe MacInnis, a very famous Canadian underwater explorer, underwater at a a depth of 50 feet outside the habitat. He and I were unable to talk to each other but we exchanged a hearty hand shake before we had to depart to the reef. It seemed very fitting that the first time I would meet Joe would be underwater and I will never forget this memorable occasion. We spent the remainder of the dive completing the reef science experiment in which we photodocumented the condition of large coral colonies on the reef. This will allow Dr. Miller to determine the changing character of the coral biomass on the reef and look in particular at larger corals as previous experiments had looked at smaller corals. The duration of the dive required us to refill our twin 100 cu. ft. tanks twice. After we refilled a second time Bill and I left Mike G. and Mike L.A. to complete a water sampling experiment that looks at the level of nutrients in the water.

At 5:30 pm we finished our second dive and swam back to the habitat to change, shower and get ready for dinner. As we were getting ready for dinner we had a videoteleconference with our surface support team at the watch desk (NOAA mission control). After we reviewed the technical accomplishements of the day and discussed tomorrows timeline we all had a chance to chat with Joe and talk about the importance of undersea and space research to helping all of us appreciate and understand the diversity of life on our amazingly complex planet. We are now finishing the documentation of our data collection, collating our digital photos and getting caught up on e-mail as we finish off our pre-sleep timeline and get ready for bed. Who could ask for anything more exciting than doing science in space and in the ocean!!!

It is indeed an honor to be part of the first joint NASA/NOAA mission to Aquarius.

Diary of an Aquanaut Mission Day 3

We woke this morning at 6:00 am with all of our watch alarms chiming different sounds in a totally random manner. With the subdued lighting that we have in the habitat overnight the first view that we see on awakening is out the viewing port in the sleeping quarters to see the fish feeding on the plankton suspended in the ocean mist. The silvery forms of barracuda flash by intermittently reminding us that they are always present surveying the situation. In contrast to space where we awaken to the sound of wake-up music played by mission control, here the situation is more subdued with a gradual transition from sleep to wakefulness. The first activity of the day is to locate the Kona coffee and prepare a hot mug for each of the crew. We are running low on our supply and hope for more in one of the re-supply “pots” from the surface later in the day.

We talked about the plan for the day as we ate breakfast. This morning a relatively light breakfast of granola bars, vegetable quiche with cheese and salsa in a soft taco and some applesauce. Our surface support team joined us for a videoconference at 7:30 am. We reviewed the daily plan for each of the aquanaut teams and spent a fair amount of time reviewing the set-up procedure for the educational outreach events that were scheduled for later in the day. Originally Bill and I were scheduled for an EVA (dive) first thing in the morning but be cancelled the dive to help Ryan get everything ready inside the habitat for the first event. This multimedia event was coordinated by Ball State University, PBS and NASA and is called Journey to the Space Station. Since this is such an effective analogue environment for space there was a lot of interest in having our crew participate.

At 10:00 am we were standing by with Mike G. and Mike L.A. outside the habitat looking in through the viewport by the dining table in the main lock of the habitat. We got some great shots of two crew inside and two crew outside while we were waiting for the connection with JSC and Space Center Houston. When we came on line we were able to answer questions for a number of students who were interested in the science we are doing and what it is like living in the ocean on a habitat. After the event finished we heard that there were approximately 4 million students that participated. It is exciting to think that such a large group had a chance to hear our excitement in bringing the skills we learned to perform complex scientific experiments in space to a new environment and participate in underwater research with some of the best marine researchers in the world. From outer space to inner space, the undersea world enjoyed by so many, we are learning about the diversity and complexity of life and the amazing beauty of our planet.

After the educational outreach event finished Mike and Mike cam back inside to join us for lunch. We dined on noodle soup, snack food, granola bars and applesauce before getting suited at 12:30 pm for the afternoon educational outreach event. For the second event Bill and I went outside while Mike and Mike remained inside to answer questions from the students. The event seemed to go well although Bill and I were only able to hear some of the questions from the students relayed through our underwater communication headsets. While we waited for the event to start we enjoyed watching all of the reef fish swimming and playing with us. The beauty of their colors and their interest in our activities was truly amazing and kept us entertained as we hovered near the habitat. Once again the event seemed to generate a lot of interest. After the event Bill and I left to swim down to the S4 site to collect water specimens for one of the science experiments we are working on.

The specimen collection went quickly. We filled 3 syringes with sea water about 1 meter above the sand on the bottom and returned the specimens to the sample collection bag we carried with us. We then continued along the S4 line to a depth of 90 feet to become more familiar with the terrain in that area. By the time we returned along the S4 line we needed to proceed to the habitat to refill our tanks for a continuation of our dive. We handed our water specimens to Otter (Mark) to have them put on ice.

After refilling we left the habitat and completed an evaluation of our communication headsets with mission control in Houston while Mike G. and Mike L.A. were getting suited to join us for the reef science experiments. The Kirby Morgan Supermasks worked very well and we were able to communicate effectively with the team in mission control to a distance of approximately 100 meters from the habitat. We returned to the habitat to rendezvous with Mike and Mike. We then swam along the NE excursion line to lay more transect lines to count and photograph the large coral formations for Dr. Miller. Bill and I returned to the habitat at 3:38 pm to complete our dive for the afternoon. After showering, cleaning our equipment and completing our science objectives I decided to take a quick nap before the crew meeting at dinnertime.

The team meeting by videoconference started at 6:15 pm and we discussed the science accomplishments of the day before reviewing the timeline for tomorrow. We ate during the meeting and had green beans, potatoes and smoked turkey. As we finish the day cleaning up the habitat the crew has been drawn to a discussion of the similarities and differences of the life of an aquanaut and that of an astronaut. It is interesting transitioning from one to the other and I am even more appreciative of having the good fortune to have been able to see the world from such unique perspectives.

I am looking forward to tomorrow evening when we will be doing the first night dive of the mission!! It should be fun.

Diary of an Aquanaut Mission Day 4

This morning we woke at 7:00 am sleeping in a bit later than our normal wake-up time. Bill and I ate a quick breakfast (coffee, fruit bars and fruit) and started to get suited for a 7:30 departure on our first dive of the day. The first task was to collect the 3 water specimens for the water analysis experiment. We brought the specimens back to the habitat and dropped them off so they could be put on ice. We then proceeded to the NE excursion line and deployed another line to the NW to continue the communication DTO that we had started earlier in the mission. The visibility was not as good today as it had been yesterday and as we proceeded down the tether line we lost site of the habitat within 25 meters. By 8:40 we had returned to the habitat to get ready for the educational outreach event involving a number of different schools including Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Ryan did an outstanding job getting set up for the event. Bill and I were scheduled to be inside the habitat to answer questions from the students and Mike G. and Mike L.A. were outside available to answer questions as well.

After we finished the outreach event we were ready for lunch. Today we had tortillas with cheese melted between them, dried fruit, applesauce and gatorade. The afternoon was spent on the crew photos and completing the environmental monitoring DTO to measure noise levels in different parts of the habitat. Subjectively, the habitat is very quiet and the noise measurements confirmed our initial impressions. In fact, when we are lying in bed at night we can often hear the transmitted sounds from the reef through the hull of the habitat as we fall asleep.

Our timeline included crew rest in the late afternoon before our team meeting to help us rest for the night dive that was scheduled from 7:30 to 9:30 this evening. We ate dinner while we went through our team videoconference to complete the daily planning for tomorrow. At 7:00 pm we started suiting for the dive and carefully checked all of our equipment and lights before starting our briefing. At 7:30 we started the dive with the 4 aquanauts from our team joined by three divers (Mark, Monika and Tim) from our surface support team. Each diver had a luminescent marker attached to the back of their tank in addition to a dive light with an extra dive light in the pouch of our diving harness. As the group swam out the excursion line we could look back and see the long line of divers extending back into the darkness illuminated only by their dive lights and tank markers. The bioluminescent plankton were stimulated by our motion through the water sending clouds of shimmering lights around each of the divers. The beauty was more spectacular when we turned off our dive lights and let our eyes adapt to the dark.

We proceeded down the SE excursion line to the pinnacle and enjoyed the view of the reef at night. There was a large lobster caught in the beam of my light that scuttled off to a coral head to hide. We scanned the misty darkness to look for signs of bigger fish but did not see anything new or different than what we had seen during the daytime. After refilling our tanks at the pinnacle way station Bill and I started back along the excursion line to the habitat. About half way back we attached a luminescent marker to the excursion line and used our tether reel to go and explore the adjacent reef. With our lights off we looked out at the marine life surrounding us and upwards at our bubbles trailing a bioluminescent wake as they headed to the surface; for us a forbidden place. It was truly a memorable experience, as most night dives are, and as our tank pressure dropped to 1500 psi we headed back to the habitat. That gave us time enough to collect one last water specimen before finishing our dive.

Tonight we will have pleasant dreams recounting our night dive to the reef. Imagine dreaming of flying in space and floating underwater all in one night!!

Dairy of an Aquanaut Mission Day 5

We slept well last night and the memory of our night dive was with us as we awoke this morning. A 12-hour interval in the habitat is required after multiple dives during the day, so our first dive could not start any earlier than 9:30 this morning - 12 hours after our night dive finished. None of us set our alarm clocks and we awoke between 8:30 and 8:50. Bill and I had a quick breakfast (coffee and instant oatmeal) and began suiting for our first dive. At 9:32 we left the habitat and swam down the S4 transect line to take the first water specimens of the day. The visibility was good this morning and we could see about 50 feet ahead of us as we swam towards the sample site located at 60 feet on the bottom of the reef. Bill and I let air out of our buoyancy compensators and slowly descended towards the bottom, our vertical movement a gradual progression as we slowly settled on the sand. We took 3 water samples and alternated taking digital underwater photographs to document the data collection. After filling the syringes we returned to the habitat so the samples could be filtered and put on ice in accordance with the research protocol.

On the second half of our dive we proceeded down the SE excursion line to lay transects for Mike and Mike to continue the coral science experiment. After the night dive in the same area last night the terrain was familiar but did not seem as lonely and foreboding as it had the night before. Our bubbles no longer left a bioluminscent trail as they floated up to the surface and the visibility was considerably better than we had noted in the dark. We completed our tasks and returned to the habitat in time to get ready for another educational outreach event. This event was coordinated by Johnson Space Center through NASA Quest, an interactive web site where students can ask questions over the internet. There were a lot of excellent questions and the students seemed particularly interested in the differences and similarities between living in an underwater habitat and living in space. Bill and I were inside the habitat answering most of the questions. Mike G. and Mike L.A. answered a few questions from outside the habitat using the buddyphone before heading back along the SE excursion line to continue the reef science experiment.

After finishing lunch and cleaning up Bill and I took a short rest before suiting for our second dive at 3:00 pm. This dive was a continuation of the reef science experiment, although we scheduled a brief return to the habitat for a 4:40 pm link-up with the crew on the International Space Station. We experienced some delays and technical challenges getting the link-up in place, but Mike G. and Mike L.A. were ultimately successful in having a 10-minute conversation with the ISS crew and the visiting Soyuz crew. Bill and I were unable to connect from outside the habitat because of some technical challenges. We had hoped to participate in the link-up from outside the habitat. That certainly would have made for an exciting dive!

We returned to the habitat at 6:00 pm and briefly had a chance to say hello to Mark and Monika who were in the gazebo when we arrived. They were doing really well and it was fun to talk together in the air filled gazebo 50 feet below the surface.

After cleaning our equipment, showering and drying off, we sat down to a well-earned dinner and rest after the long day's work. Tomorrow we start the long 17-hour decompression back to surface pressure and we are looking forward to our last dive of the mission - from 7:00 to 8:30 am. As the mission starts to come to a close I find myself thinking more of the surface world again. The lightning flashes above us with a storm overhead remind me of another place that we had all but forgotten of during our stay as inhabitants of the reef. While I look forward to the chance to be at home with my wife Cathy and my children Evan and Olivia, I am already looking forward to an opportunity to revisit Aquarius and say hello once again to the new friends I have made on the reef.

Dairy of an Aquanaut Mission Day 6

This morning we woke up early to be able to start our dive on the reef before the sun came up. Mike G. and Mike L.A. were up at 5:30 to have breakfast and get ready to enter the water by 6:30. Bill and I were up at 5:45 for a quick breakfast before getting suited at 6:30 to be in the water by 7:00. I had oatmeal, some gatorade and an apple and headed out to the wet porch still only really half awake. However, climbing into a cold wet dive skin and then a wet suit is a great way to wake-up first thing in the morning! The water was still dark black, like on our previous night dive, as we descended into it to put our tanks on. Once again we attached a luminescent marker to our tanks so that we could easily see each other underwater. We double checked all of our equipment, prime and back-up flashlights and headed out to rendezvous with Mike and Mike. The goal of the dive was to head the SE excursion to an area close by the pinnacle way station to continue the reef science that we had been doing in the area yesterday. As we swam along the water started to lighten toward the east and we could look up to see the sun beginning to penetrate down towards us at 50 feet. There didn’t seem to be much activity on the reef – almost as though the fish were waking up to start their day as well. A group of barracuda swam in formation 15 feet to our left and slightly behind us insolently ignoring the fact that we were much larger than they were. The bioluminescence was not as marked as it had been on our night dive. Perhaps due to the fact that the sun was now above the horizon and rapidly light, and seemingly more life to the reef.

We arrived at the pinnacle way station and checked in before starting to photograph and document the health of the coral in the vicinity of the transect lines we had put down the day before. Having 4 aquanauts made the data collection much faster and we were able to finish two transects and a swath before we had to head back to the habitat. As we swam back I could not help but reflect on the fact that this would be our last dive together on this mission. After a week underwater our motions were much more fluid and there seemed to be an almost intuitive understanding of the tasks for each diver as we worked together. I will truly miss working with this team, it has been a great experience. We stopped to take photographs of each other on the way back and stopped to have a look at the lobsters and eels that we knew lived under the coral heads. As we surfaced on the wet porch it seemed to me that this had been one of the best dives of the mission, one that I will remember for a long time.

After cleaning our equipment and changing we quickly got ready for an educational event with the Webster Intermediate school in Houston. By now we were pretty adept at getting things set-up for the event so we had no problem having a quick snack and getting ready to go in 15 minutes. This time we did the event with all 4 aquanauts in the habitat and it worked very well as we each had a chance to answer the myriad of questions from the students. After we signed off it was time for lunch and the start of a fairly lengthy process of cleaning the habitat and getting ready for the 17-hour decompression to the pressure at sea level. This is a fairly complex procedure in which we closed the water-tight doors between the entry lock and the wet porch. This isolated the entry lock, main lock and crew quarters from the wet porch allowing us to keep the pressure in the wet porch equal to that of 48 feet. Thus, it would not flood while we brought the remainder of the isolated habitat up to an equivalent of sea level pressure. This process is done gradually to prevent the aquanauts from getting decompression sickness, a medical problem associated with the dissolved nitrogen in our body coming out of solution as gas bubbles if we proceeded too rapidly. We started the process at 4:00 pm with a series of 20-minute sessions breathing oxygen to help remove the nitrogen from our bodies. Each session was separated by an air-breathing interval to prevent problems with oxygen toxicity and the protocol called for two 20-minute sessions with the final session lasting 30 minutes. All of us were happy when we finished that segment of the protocol as the masks had to have a tight seal and the oxygen had a drying effect in our nose and mouth as we breathed it. We settled in our bunks to watch movies until it was time for bed as we wanted to keep the circulation to our arms and legs as efficient as possible to help remove the nitrogen. I fell asleep at around 10:00 pm since we were scheduled with an early wake-up at 4:30 am to finish the remainder of the protocol and get the habitat ready to be shut down and repressurized back to a depth of 48 feet. Lying in bed, I had a feeling similar to that the night before returning from space to land at Kennedy Space Center at the end of 16 days in space. I was not really ready to leave, the desire to remain in the habitat was strong. So too was the desire to get back to the surface world and see our friends and family and reminisce on what it was like to become a reef inhabitant for a short period of time. It has indeed been an amazing experience.

Dairy of an Aquanaut Mission Day 7

This morning we awoke at 4:30 A.M. since it was our last chance to use the restroom in the entry lock. Once the pressure inside the habitat was equivalent to sea level we were unable to flush the toilet since draining the toilet to the holding tank is done by a differential pressure gradient between the habitat (greater pressure) and the life support buoy (lesser pressure). Bringing the pressure inside the habitat to sea level eliminates the pressure differential meaning we were no longer able to flush the toilet. Despite the challenges of trying to sleep flat on our back with our arms and legs straight, I was able to get a reasonably good nights sleep. We had a lot of work to do helping Ryan and Mark complete the long checklist of items that had to be completed before we could increase the pressure inside the habitat back to 48 feet to allow us to swim back up to the surface. It reminded me of the “de-orbit prep” phase of preparing to return from space where the crew has to work closely together as a team to complete a long list of tasks before the de-orbit burn. While we cleaned and sorted through the food we picked whatever we wanted for breakfast and to eat while we worked. All of the sheets and bedding from the bunks had to be removed and brought back to the surface for cleaning. After removing the sheets, the mattresses were moved so that the bunks could be cleaned with a special disinfectant solution to reduce the possibility of microbial contamination to the habitat building from one mission to the next. After cleaning the bunk itself we had to wipe down every surface in each part of the habitat. We started adjacent to the bunks wiping down the pressure hull and the compartments adjacent to the bunks where we had been stowing our personal items. This continued into the main lock and finally into the entry lock so that every surface had been wiped by the time we finished. While this was being done we also did an inventory of the food and medical items remaining. The coordinated effort of the 4 aquanauts and the 2 habitat technicians resulted in our finishing everything by 7:45. The recompression of the habitat atmosphere to 48 feet was scheduled for 8:30 so we had some time for some last minute reflections as the mission was drawing to a close. Looking out the viewing ports we saw fish that we now recognized as daily visitors to the habitat. After we left the habitat they would still be there, the rightful inhabitants of the reef. Like flying in space this reminded us that while we have the capability to visit both of these extreme, harsh environments we are only visitors and ultimately must return to the earth’s surface. While space flight creates in virtually all astronauts’ a recognition of the beauty and fragility of our planet, as an aquanaut I was equally impressed about the fragility and diversity of life on the reef. The time flew by and by 8:20 we headed towards the entry lock and closed the door to the main lock so that we could expedite our return to the sea floor. With a loud rushing sound the pressure surrounding us increased, pushing on our ears and requiring us to equalize the pressure early and often. The temperature of the air in the entry lock also increased dramatically with the effects of compression and we found our voice returned to the same unusual tone that we had become so used to over the course of the mission. The door into the wet porch was opened when the pressure had equalized on both sides and we went out to greet the safety divers that would be helping escort us to the surface. For the ascent we would not be wearing our wetsuits and technical diving gear. Rather, we would only have our masks and fins with a small bail-out bottle attached to a regulator providing us with enough air to breathe to reach the surface. The light filtered down through the turquoise blue water. It sparkled around us sending shimmering reflections off the scales of the barracuda whose omnipresence was now expected when we were diving outside the habitat. We proceeded down the S4 excursion line a short distance before swimming over to the mooring buoy line to slowly head to the surface. Swimming without all of our gear seemed unnatural at first but certainly made me feel freer in comparison to the weight of the twin 100 cu ft tanks we typically used on all of our dives. Approaching the boat we could easily see that our tranquil swim was about to change as the 4 – 6 foot sea swells rocked the boat in every direction. The waves raised the stern platform that we would have to climb onto well out of the water before it crashing it back down beneath the surface. After such a long and successful mission this was not a time to make a mistake and get hurt boarding the boat and I was happy when all of our team made it successfully into the boat without incident.

The mission was over. Yet despite our desires to have stayed longer, we were all happy to be sitting in the boat breathing the fresh sea air and looking at the beautiful blue sky above us. With the white caps and breaking waves it took us longer to get in to shore than it normally would. As we pulled into the canal Bill stepped forward and congratulated us all on a successful mission. It was truly an honor to have been part of the first NASA/NOAA research mission to the habitat. This was the first NASA underwater habitat mission since the Tektite program over three decades ago and Mike G., Mike L.A. and I felt very fortunate to join the very small group of explorers that have been to both outer space and inner space.

Final Reflections

I have tried as much as possible to capture the feeling of living and working under the ocean in my journal. One of the many goals of our mission was to evaluate the potential benefit of using the underwater environment to help prepare astronauts for the rigors of long duration space flight. It clearly accomplished that goal. From a personal perspective, it seemed to me that the habitat was the closest thing to a space flight environment that I had experienced on earth. Our crew felt the pressure to succeed with the research goals of our mission just as we do flying in space. I found it personally fulfilling being back in the role of a proxy scientist collecting data to help researchers in their quest for knowledge. The environment, while appearing beautiful and tranquil, is as harsh as outer space and each team member clearly understood that a mistake could have catastrophic consequences. Perhaps though, the lasting personal memory for comes from experiencing the awe and beauty of exploring these unique environments. I hope that somehow not only will we learn scientifically about these environments, that we will effectively communicate and share their beauty and the need to protect them for future generations to enjoy.