[HEART BEATING]
[WATER BUBBLING]
[BREATHING UNDERWATER]
More people have gone into space
than have lived underwater.
So what we were doing
was really special,
and it was clearly like
nothing I've ever done before.
I would go back in a heartbeat.
I was living
undersea for 15 days
with five other people in the
Aquarius underwater habitat.
Aquarius is an
underwater laboratory.
It's a house
underwater basically.
It's bolted to the seafloor 60
feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean
off the coast of
the Florida Keys.
We were conducting research
led by Fabien Cousteau,
the grandson of
Jacques Cousteau.
We were pushing limits of
humans living underwater.
We were doing about five
different research projects.
The project I was
most involved in
was using Edgertronic high-speed
video camera for the first time
underwater to film the really
unique feeding behaviors
of animals on the reef.
It was an incredible tool.
We could film creatures
underwater that
would move so fast that
watching it in real time
you could not tell
what would happen.
The mantis shrimp, for
example, I'd watch it,
and all the sudden the
shrimp would disappear,
and I'd see puff of sand.
But when we filmed
it with the camera
we could replay the
footage in slow motion,
and see the details.
It let us understand and
see the underwater world
in a whole new light.
Diving from the surface
you can spend 45 minutes
to an hour working at 60 feet.
But by living
undersea, our bodies
are saturated with nitrogen.
So we can spend as much time
as want in the
water at that depth.
You're here!
I'm here!
Are you ready for this?
Yeah, we're ready.
Two weeks.
Down below.
You need time for the fish to
be accustomed to your presence
there.
And we had that by
saturation diving.
We also filmed
Christmas tree worms.
They blossom in the
ocean as they feed.
But when they get scared,
they retract really fast.
We filmed a jawfish.
And a couple times
an hour, he'll
poke his head out of his
den and just spit out
a mouthful of sand.
And I was focused so
intently on that subject
that I didn't realize
day had shifted to night.
All a sudden, I looked
up and a nurse shark just
swam right past my leg.
Seeing that guy, I
was like, oh, wow!
I wasn't scared, but I
was a little bit spooked.
I just felt really one with the
environment I was living in.
Some nights, plankton,
and little shrimps,
and little squids would swim
by the window really fast,
attracted by the light.
And we set up the camera
with a macro lens.
It was basically
like a microscope
on front of the camera.
And in high speed, you
can see little creatures
coming, dashing in
and out of the frame.
It was just fascinating.
[LOG ON BEEPING]
Hi.
Hi.
Something really special
about this mission
was that we were not only able
to do cutting edge research,
but we were also connecting
with people around the world.
So every day, each
of us aquanauts
would do at least one Skype
in the classroom session
with kids of all ages.
Thank you!
This mission has made my love
for the ocean and my respect
for the ocean even deeper.
The ocean has been
my home for 15 days.
And now, I am dedicated to
using my skills in engineering
to help us better understand
and protect the oceans.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
