TRAINING DAY 3: "MOON" WALKING UNDERSEA

The dive helmets we learned all about yesterday in the classroom got wet today. One-by-one all the aquanauts tested the helmets and practiced drills, including completely flooding the mask with water and then purging it, having our air cut off and then transitioning to emergency air supply. 

All of us have dived a considerable amount on SCUBA, but for each of us the helmet diving was a new and exciting experience. Because air to the helmet is supplied through an umbilical cord, there's no need for a heavy SCUBA tank. Instead, we have a small tank on our back only for emergencies. This is oddly freeing, even with the 30lbs helmet on your head. The "grounding" weight of the helmet also makes it easy to take off your fins and walk on the seafloor. I imagine the feeling is a bit like "moon" walking.  We're also in constant contact with the person regulating our air supply via a communications line in the helmet. 

The drills went smoothly for everyone, thankfully. Two Navy divers were helping us the whole time as well, in case anything went wrong. I found it hard to clear my ears while descending, which may be due to the fact that the helmet was designed for slightly larger heads . . . but I figured it out. 

I can't wait to spend more time in the helmet during Mission31. We'll wear this for up to three hours straight on some excursions underwater. 

Wearing the dive helmet, about to jump in! It's oddly freeing underwater despite 30lbs on your head because there's no need for heavy SCUBA air tanks on your back. The yellow umbilical cord supplies air to the helmet. That's my MIT brass rat class ring on my hand adjusting the helmet's knob! Photo credit to Marc Ostrick!