On January 23rd, 1960 Jacques Piccard and Lt. Don Walsh touched down in the Trieste in the deepest point of the Mariana trench.
It took this craft 4 hours and 48 minutes just to descend the 35,797 feet. An underwater sonar communications system which malfunctioned earlier in the voyage began again to operate, and at this great depth and a message took 7 seconds to travel to the surface support ship and another 7 seconds to receive the reply!
A manned voyage to this depth has never since been attempted although man has returned here with the aid of robotics.
How long were these two occupants at this deepest depth aboard the Trieste?
David Bartsch
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