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​BLOG BY GRACE C. YOUNG                                                                              
                                                                               


COUNTING THE HOURS TILL SPLASHDOWN

5/31/2014

 
It's the evening before M31 splashdown. Today the production team released a video about how the habitat is being prepared for the aquanauts. It really captures the energy around Aquarius. Check it out! 
Video about the final preparations on Aquarius; tomorrow is splashdown for Fabien, Andy, Adam and Kip! Liz and I will switch with Adam and Andy on the 17th.

Meanwhile we aquanauts parted ways temporarily. Liz flew back to Boston today so she can train the Northeastern research divers before returning to the Keys when she and I saturate. Andy, Adam, and I had an amazing breakfast at Harriette's Restaurant in Key Largo with some of Andy's research mates, before heading to their research base. We also stopped by the hardware store for some last-minute research prep, and dropped off final supplies at the reef base for transportation to Aquarius tomorrow. At the base, we showed a Weather Channel representative around so she could prepare media coverage for tomorrow.  

Back at mission headquarters, it's a little chaotic. Fabien managed to complete a whirlwind of back-to-back interviews for various news sources, including the Weather Channel, Sky News, NBC and others (all listed on the M31 Facebook page). I hope he gets time to relax before splashdown at 10 am tomorrow! Meanwhile the boys and I are planning to spend the evening with popcorn and a movie as they savor their last moments on land (for the next two weeks). We already miss Liz! Can't wait till she returns on the 15th.
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Andy (center), Adam (right) and I walked into reef base with the fish decoys they'll use for their research. We apparently looked ridiculous. Fellow aquanaut Kip made us stop and take a picture. Thanks Kip!
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Look what I found! This is the pod that will carry DOXA watches down with us to saturation. It's a beautiful (and functional!) piece of engineering, just like the watches.
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Having some fun... The team at headquarters asked us to bring home a dive helmet for Fabien to use as a prop during his NBC Today show interview this afternoon. Andy humored Adam and I by posing with the helmet in this truck.
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    Author

    Grace Young  (B.S., MIT, Ph.D, Oxford) is an ocean engineer, aquanaut, and explorer currently working at X. She lived underwater as a scientist and engineer on Fabian Cousteau’s Mission 31, and is a National Geographic Explorer. 

    Blog Highlights: 
    1. No Engineer is an Island
    2. Mission 31 Highlights
    3. Sailing Across the Atlantic 
    ​3. Return to CERN

    Tweets by @grace_h2o
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