From Space to Seafloor

Watch and listen in on the first contact between scientists on the opposite edges of human exploration. WHOI marine biologist Tim Shank, diving in the Alvin submersible and NASA astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams as she orbits Earth on the International Space Station.

Giving new meaning to the phrase “long-distance phone call,” Shank is two miles underwater; Suni is 200 miles up in the atmosphere. They both work in small, confined spaces, looking out onto vast, unpopulated expanses. He is out of the reach of sunlight, buried under a blanket of perpetual darkness; she sees the sunrise 15 times a day. Both are explorers of the last frontiers.

Click here to learn more about this rare “seafloor to space” conversation.