Two Records for Daring Kathy: One in Space, One on the Bottom of the Ocean

Former NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan has become the very first woman to reach the deepest point in Earth’s oceans, the bottom of the Challenger Deep – located nearly 11,000 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean!

Kathy already set a record in 1984, when she was the first woman on a space walk. The pressure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep is more than a thousand times that at sea level. According to EYOS Expeditions, the expedition Sullivan and Victor Vescovo – entrepreneur and deep sea explorer – underwent took just under four hours in total. Upon their return, they discussed their journey with U.S. astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS).

“As a hybrid oceanographer and astronaut this was an extraordinary day, a once in a lifetime day, seeing the moonscape of the Challenger Deep and then comparing notes with my colleagues on the ISS about our remarkable reusable inner-space outer-spacecraft,” says Sullivan in a statement. 

The historic trip was part of an expedition called Ring of Fire, organized by Vescovo’s deep sea exploration company, Caladan Oceanic, in a plan to provide the first 4K video of the Challenger Deep.