Aquanauts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rebreathers

American engineer Edwin A. Link first made his mark in the aviation world when he invented the flight simulator in the 1920s, revolutionising pilot training in the process. He sold his business in 1954 so that he could concentrate on underwater archaeology and research.

Link designed several decompression chambers that were submerged as underwater habitats. He used one, the Link Cylinder, to carry out research into saturation diving during his 'Man in Sea' project. This resulted in the world's first aquanaut in 1962 when the diver concerned spent over 24 hours at a depth of 61 m (200 ft) breathing a helium-oxygen mix. Link also developed the 'Deep Diver', a lockout submersible which allowed divers to leave and enter the craft whilst it was underwater. One such dive took place in 1968 at the depth of 210 m (700 ft).

Link's son and another diver died in 1973 when the submersible Johnson Sea Link became trapped for 24 hours on an artificial reef. As a result Link turned his attention to underwater rescue technology and designed the unmanned Cabled Observation and Rescue Device (CORD), placing him at the forefront of Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) development.

Working rebreathers were first used in the 19th century, allowing divers to work underwater without a surface supply.

Answer: Robert Sténuit

Robert Sténuit was a Belgian underwater archaeologist as well as a writer and journalist. By spending over 24 hours submerged at 61 m (200 ft) in the Mediterranean Sea in a Link Cylinder, he became the world's first aquanaut. This was during Link's Man in Sea project and took place in the Mediterranean Sea in September 1962.

The experiment was not without its excitement. During the dive, a mistral sank a launch carrying 15 bottles of helium required by Sténuit. It also caused the submersible decompression chamber containing Sténuit to float to the surface. Fortunately the Link Cylinder remained pressurised and so, after the US Navy brought an additional helium supply, Sténuit was able to decompress without issue.

He participated in a second Link-organised Man in Sea experiment in 1964, this time spending 49 hours underwater at a depth of 132 m (432 ft) along with Jon Lindbergh, one of Charles Lindbergh's sons. The Man in Sea project was taken over by Ocean Systems Inc. and, while Link left, Sténuit remained. He split his time between the offshore oil and gas industry in the North Sea and searching for shipwrecks.

Answer: SEALAB

The US Navy research programme was named by Bond as the Genesis Project, after the biblical passage at Genesis 1:26-28. Research involved testing difference gas mixes at different pressures on rats, goats, monkeys and humans. This research started in 1957.

Edwin A. Link and Jacques Cousteau were running their own privately-funded saturation projects at the same time, both achieving undersea trials starting in 1962. It was not until 1963 that Bond's Genesis Project went underwater with the placement of the SEALAB I habitat. SEALAB II followed in 1965 and SEALAB III (the refurbished SEALAB II habitat) in 1969. SEALAB III was plagued with strange failures and the programme was terminated following the death of aquanaut Berry L. Cannon in 1969.

"Sealab 2020" was the Hanna-Barbera-produced animated TV series first aired in 1972. There was also "Sealab 2021" (2000-2005) which was a satirical parody of the 1972 series and 1970s animated children's series generally.

Answer: Scott Carpenter

One of the Mercury Seven, the first group of US astronauts, Scott Carpenter was the second American after John Glenn to orbit the Earth. Inspired by a lecture given by Jacques Cousteau at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963, he took leave of absence from Project Mercury to join the SEALAB project.

He spent 30 days at 62 m (205 ft) in SEALAB II during August and September 1965. The normal tour was 15 days. This coincided with the Gemini V mission which provided the opportunity for a conversation between Carpenter and fellow Mercury Seven astronaut Gordon Cooper who was commander of the Gemini V space flight.

Injuries received during a motorcycle accident in this period and avascular necrosis from the deep-sea diving made him ineligible for further astronaut and aquanaut work. He however returned to NASA where latterly he helped develop underwater training systems for astronaut space walks. He resigned from NASA in 1967 to join the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project as Director of Aquanaut Operations for SEALAB III.

Carpenter's career demonstrates the strong link between space and the underwater environment.

Answer: Jacques Cousteau

Jacques Cousteau was a French naval officer, oceanographer, an Oscar-winning filmmaker (for the 1956 documentary "The Silent World") and also an author.
The Aqua-Lung was the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) and was co-invented by Cousteau and French engineer Émile Gagnan using a modified gas generator regulator.

Continental Shelf Station (or Precontinent) was the name of Cousteau's underwater habitats with Continental Shelf Station One (or Precontinent I) being placed in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 10 metres (33 ft) in September 1962 where two aquanauts spend a week.

Conshelf Two was placed in the Red Sea also at a depth of 10 metres (33 ft) where five aquanauts spent 30 days in a starfish-shaped module. There were two other structures, one housing a two-man SP-350 diving saucer and the other at 30 metres depth (98 ft) where two aquanauts spend a week. Two support ships supplied air and logistical support from the surface. Cousteau's 1964 film "World Without Sun" documented the experiment.

In 1965 Conshelf Three was placed at 100 m (328 ft) off the French coast where six aquanauts spent three weeks conducting research. After this, Cousteau turned his focus more towards marine conservation work.

Answer: Vitrified debris from a meteorite strike

Tektites are gravel-sized pieces of glass formed from terrestrial debris thrown up during meteor impacts. They are typically coloured black, green, brown or grey. They are distinguished from volcanic glasses (or obsidians) by having virtually no water content, amongst other things.

The SEALAB experiments proved that humans could live at depth using saturation diving techniques. The Tektite aquanauts were scientists rather than Navy personnel. The idea was to study group dynamics and performance as well as carry out marine research. NASA used it as an analogue for Skylab-type group living and isolation, amongst other things. An underwater habitat was considered a much more realistic setting than a terrestrial sealed chamber.

The space connection was the reason for the programme name, linking meteorites from space to the tektites found on the ocean floor. The underwater laboratory was based in Great Lameshur Bay, Saint John, US Virgin Islands.

Answer: It was the first all-female aquanaut team

Earle applied to join a mixed-gender team in the Tektite I mission but, despite have logged over 1,000 hours of research underwater, she was rejected. The five women of Mission 6-50, the fifth Tektite II mission which lasted two weeks, demonstrated that women could perform demanding saturation-diving, engineering, and scientific work in an isolated, hazardous environment.

Earle went on from being a marine biologist to becoming an oceanographer, writer and lecturer. She was the first chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She also set the record depth of 351 metres (1,250 ft) for an open-ocean untethered dive in 1979. This was done in a JIM suit, an atmospheric diving suit which maintained an interior pressure of one atmosphere despite the external pressure of nearly 36 atmospheres at that depth.

Answer: His tugboat sank

Okene was the ship's cook when the tugboat Jascon-4 capsized in 2013. The tugboat was stabilising an oil tanker in rough seas in the Gulf of Guinea when a wave flipped it over and it sank to the bottom at a depth of 30 metres. He was discovered by divers 60 hours later. They had been sent down to recover the bodies. Eleven crew members died. Based on a saturation diving support vessel, the three South African divers were able to ensure that he had the appropriate decompression.

A year later he crashed his car through a bridge into water. He had to rescue his friend and then the police told them that the car had to be removed from the water. So he dived down to tie a rope so that the car could be removed. The experience helped him recover from the tugboat trauma and he then trained to become a saturation diver working in the oil industry.

Answer: Helium

Breathing nitrogen under enough pressure will cause a narcotic effect which is dangerous for working aquanauts. The nitrogen in the breathing mixture is typically replaced by helium to remove the narcosis risk. This results in the 'squeaky' voice or Donald Duck effect.

Helium is much less dense than nitrogen which means sound travels faster, resulting in higher frequencies generated by the larynx as well as an altered resonance in the vocalising system. Pressure also has an effect, making speaking physically more demanding for the aquanaut. Aquanauts may use helium-speech unscramblers, speak slower and louder, and use a form of shorthand speech to help with accurate communication.

Answer: Italy

Cristoforetti was a former Italian Airforce pilot and engineer who became the second woman sent into space by the European Space Agency (ESA). She went to the International Space Station in 2014 and 2022 with her NEEMO stint in 2019. She held the record for the longest single space flight by a woman at just under 200 days until 2017.

NEEMO stands for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations which used the Aquarius underwater habitat as its base. This was located at a depth of 19 m (62 ft) off Key Largo in Florida Keys. NASA sent groups of astronauts for up to three weeks at a time as preparation for future space missions.

NEEMO 23 was about preparing for future moon exploration and included elements such as testing lunar exploration tools and procedures, a prototype rescue system designed to allow one astronaut to rescue an incapacitated colleague, and testing augmented-reality navigation.

The European Space Agency has its own training course used to train international astronauts. This is called CAVES (Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills) and, not surprisingly perhaps, uses caves as a space analogue.