The grandson of famed underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, Fabien Cousteau, has lived undersea for more than one month, breaking his grandfather’s record by one day.
Cousteau has been living in the Aquarius lab off the Florida Keys for 31 days to raise awareness of ocean issues.
His ground-breaking mission for ocean exploration coincides with the 50th anniversary of a monumental legacy left by his grandfather.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau is credited with creating the first ocean floor habitats for humans and leading a team of ocean explorers on the first attempt to live and work underwater aboard Conshelf Two.
The ambitious 30-day living experiment in the Red Sea succeeded as the first effort in saturation diving, proving that it could be done without suffering any ill effects.
Fabien’s adventure was broadcast to the world through multiple channels, which exposed the risk and mystique of what lies beneath.
This is the first time a mission of this length has taken place in the Aquarius lab, the only underwater marine habitat and lab in the world, located almost 15km off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, and operated by Florida International University.
Located 63ft below the surface near deep coral reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the habitat is able to withstand pressures up to 120ft deep and has six bunk beds; hot water; a mini kitchen with microwave and refrigerator; air conditioning; computers and wireless telemetry that connects to the base on shore.
