Chapter 1 THE DIVE JULY 12, 2022 | 8:11 A.M. (LOCAL TIME) LAUNCH +0 HOURS, 0 MINUTES | DEPTH: 0 METERS It’s a bright summer morning on the seemingly infinite expanse of the western Pacific Ocean, just over 200 miles southeast of the island of Guam. From the deck of the DSSV Pressure Drop, nothing but lightly rolling waters can be seen in any direction—that is, except for a spot off the stern of the ship, where you might just make out a curvilinear white shape slipping beneath the surface. Although, at first glance, it might look like something out of a mid-20thcentury science fiction movie, this object is no anachronism. It’s one of the most advanced underwater vessels ever devised, the DSV Limiting Factor. And this patch of sea, otherwise indistinguishable amid the vastness of the Pacific, is special, too: it’s directly above—almost 11 kilometers (7 miles) above—the deepest point in all of Earth’s oceans, a notch in the Mariana Trench known as Challenger Deep. The Mariana Trench is a crescent-shaped chasm in the western Pacific Ocean, spanning more than 2,542 kilometers (1,580 miles); within it lies an even deeper groove, which owes its odd name to the British Royal Navy survey ship HMS Challenger, whose scientists first sounded its depths in 1875. Challenger Deep measures about 11 kilometers (7 miles) long by 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) wide and 10,935 meters (35,876 feet) deep. How deep is that, in human terms? It’s hard to conceive, but, as an approximation, picture six Grand Canyons stacked on top of each other. Another way to think about it: it’s much deeper than Mount Everest is tall. The Limiting Factor is the first and only US-owned vehicle to make multiple descents to Challenger Deep with human beings aboard. (The only other sub that can currently accomplish this is Fendouzhe, or “Striver,” operated by the Chinese
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