One giant dive for mankind
In a historic solo dive to the bottom of the world, famed filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron descended 35,756 feet (6.77 miles/10.89 km) to reach the " Challenger Deep ," the ocean's deepest point located in the Mariana Trench some 200 miles (322 km) southwest of Guam on Monday, March 26. The descent voyage took two hours and 36 minutes from 5:15 a.m. until 7:52 a.m. local time. In his specially designed submersible DEEPSEA CHALLENGER , Cameron spent about three hours on the seafloor collecting photos and samples for scientific research in marine biology, microbiology, astrobiology, marine geology, and geophysics. In another first, he also tweeted from the seafloor under a crushing pressure of 16,285 psi (112,280 kPa). The vehicle surfaced at 12:00 noon local time and was retrieved by the Ship Mermaid Sapphire . Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic. (shown with permission) Filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-in-R