First aquanaut (Men)
Last updated: May 20, 2020 at 0:39 am
1962 — Robert Sténuit | Man-in-the-Sea I project by Edwin A. Link. Sténuit spent 24 hours and 15 minutes in a submersible decompression chamber (SDC) at a depth of 61 m (200 ft) on September 6, 1962. Sténuit’s record immersion off Villefranche-sur-Mer (France) also included several dives outside of the habitat. A strong mistral northwesterly wind that sank the expedition launch carrying fifteen bottles of helium also created a surge that caused the chamber to float back to the surface while still under pressure, thus sparing its occupant from certain death due to decompression sickness. In 1964 Sténuit and Jon Lindbergh spent 49 hours at a depth of 126 meters during Man-in-the-Sea II. The breathing gas for both projects was heliox (97% helium, 3% oxygen).
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Man-in-the-Sea I beat Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s Conshelf I for the title of the world’s first aquanaut by a mere eight days.
Sténuit, Robert (1965). Les jours les plus profonds. Plon
NOAA Diving Manual (1991)
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Jeffrey Gallant is the Editor-in-Chief and Records Keeper of the Diving Almanac. He is also a contributing editor of DIVER Magazine, and the scientific director of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). Jeffrey started diving in 1982.
