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Tab A into Slot B

January 27, 2013

WHOI mechanic Brian Durante assembles a “clevis attachment,” one of four on the new titanium frame of the human occupied vehicle Alvin that connect the bottom lugs of the personnel sphere to the frame. The sub is receiving a new, larger sphere as part of a major upgrade and is being strengthened to enable it to eventually dive to 6,500 meters (more than 4 miles), about 2,000 meters more than its previous maximum depth, where it will be subjected to pressures of nearly 5 tons per square inch. The new sphere passed its pressure tests with flying colors and the whole sub will begin field tests later this spring.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)