Projects Tektite I and II 



While one Sealab diver remained underwater for 45 days, the Nation's 

 longest duration man-in-the-sea experiment was Project Tektite I. A joint 

 project, Tektite was managed by the Navy with Department of the Interior, 

 NASA and industrial support at a cost of $4.5 million. Tektite I placed 

 four Department of the Interior marine scientists on the ocean bottom at 

 a depth of 50 feet for a record-breaking 60-day period. The project took 

 place at Lameshur Bay, off St. John Island, in the Virgin Islands National 

 Park during February, March, and April 1969. 



The white Tektite habitat consists of two cylindrical steel tanks 18 feet 

 high containing two rooms each. The tanks are connected by a crawl-way 

 and mounted on a rectangular base structure which is anchored to the ocean 

 floor. An umbilical connection of hoses and cables for fresh water, air, 

 electric power, and communications links the habitat to a surface-support 

 barge. 



The project's major objective was to demonstrate the ability of scientists 

 to perform research under saturation diving conditions for extended periods. 

 This objective was achieved and the resulting data on man's behavior, 

 efficiency, and biomedical responses in confined and isolated conditions will 

 be useful for continuing experiments in man-in-the-sea. Tektite I proved 

 that man can remain in good physical and physiological health working 

 for prolonged periods underwater. 



It also demonstrated the value of studying the ocean environment while 

 living in it. The Tektite scientists conducted a variety of observations and 

 experiments on reef geology and marine life. The bottom sediment studies 

 may assist in the search for oceanic minerals. Investigations of lobster ecology, 

 plankton studies and other biological studies may prove important to 

 fish farming and aquaculture. A research project was undertaken on the spiny 

 lobster, whose population has declined recently. 



Aquanaut Crew Chief Richard A. Waller emerges from a deck compression chamber 

 following 20-hou-r decompression which concluded a 2-month stay beneath the ocean' 

 surface in Project Tektite I. 



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