A NASA astronaut raved about his journey to view the Titanic wreckage in a video that was posted just two months before a tourist submarine went missing.
Dr. Scott Parazynski, who has been to space multiple times and has summited Mt Everest, joined the Titanic Survey Expedition in 2021.
‘It’s tougher to go to the bottom of the ocean than it is to the far side of the moon,’ Parazynski said. ‘We saw thing that maybe human eyes have never seen before.’
Parazynski was featured on the promotional video for OceanGate Expeditions among other guests and crew members who gushed about the $250,000 experience that descends 12,500ft into the Atlantic Ocean.
They all spoke highly of the safety measures involved in the experience in the video posted in April just months before the tourist submersible with five people onboard went missing on Sunday.
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NASA Astronaut Dr. Scott Parazynski raved about his journey thousands of feet below the ocean surface to view the Titanic wreckage just two months before a tourist sub went missing
According to the video, OceanGate Expeditions offers the once in a lifetime opportunity to be a specially trained crew member safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site
According to the video, OceanGate Expeditions offers the once in a lifetime opportunity to be a specially trained crew member safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site.
Parazynski, who has crewed five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, earned his Level 1 submersible pilot credentials during his previous work with OceanGate Expeditions and jumped at the chance to journey to the bottom of the sea.
‘Every time you take to the sea, you know there’s so many things that have to go right,’ he said on the video.
‘All the electrical systems and navigation systems that have to check out this is a very complex vehicle.’
‘It is a very well engineered and very safe but and the team is very focused on safety first,’ he continued.
Parazynski, who has crewed five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, joined the Titanic Survey Expedition in 2021
Parazynski said that the experience is a very well engineered and very safe but and the team is very focused on safety first’
Less than two years after Parazynski went on his own journey, the sub which is owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, went missing after it launched on Sunday
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A view inside the sub shown on the video in April – two months before the sub went missing
Several other adventurers who have done the experience or who have been on the sub as part of the crew said it gave them comfort to know there was constant communication between the vessels.
‘This is not a ride at Disney,’ Software Security Expert Aaron Newman said. ‘There are a lot of real risks involved.’
But Master Chef Chelsea Kellogg said on the video that there was ‘not one second of me experiencing anything from OceanGate have I ever felt unsafe.’
Less than two years after Parazynski went on his own journey, the sub which is owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, went missing after it launched on Sunday.
The vessel was taking a crew of five people including company CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer PH Nargeolet and Harding 12,500ft underwater as part of its $250,000-a-head Titanic tour.
Nargeolet was also featured in the video from April. He has been a leader of at least 30 dives and was touted as an expert who would be on all the rides this season.
‘The sub, for me, it’s very well done because it’s simple as you see all these are a lot of equipment and a lot of switch and on this one you don’t have because you work with a screen and with a keyboard and it’s very easy to do that,’ he said on the video.
He went on to explain that those who are part of the experience are ‘not only a passenger’ but that as a mission specialist, ‘you can be really a member of the team and that’s that great.’
French explorer PH Nargeolet, who is believed to be on the submarine that is currently missing, was also featured in the video from April. He has been a leader of at least 30 dives and was touted as an expert who would be on all the rides this season
Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there on Sunday
OceanGate Expeditions is one of the only companies that offers the tours
The crew of the missing sub launched at around 4am yesterday but lost communication with the mothership a short while afterwards.
According to OceanGate’s website, the sub can last for up to 96 hours underwater with five people consuming oxygen. But more than 30 hours into the rescue mission, it is still nowhere to be found.
At a press conference, Rear Admiral John W. Mauger said the US Coast Guard is working ‘as hard as possible’ to find it while ‘lives are at risk’.
C-130s and P-8s are now being used to assist in the search in the remote area of the ocean, 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 370 miles southeast of southernmost Newfoundland.
