Current:Home > MyNASA, Boeing and Coast Guard representatives to testify about implosion of Titan submersible -Visionary Wealth Guides
NASA, Boeing and Coast Guard representatives to testify about implosion of Titan submersible
View
Date:2025-04-12 18:14:13
Representatives for NASA, Boeing Co. and the U.S. Coast Guard are slated to testify in front of investigators Thursday about the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic.
OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among the five people who died when the submersible imploded in June 2023. The design of the company’s Titan submersible has been the source of scrutiny since the disaster.
The Coast Guard opened a public hearing earlier this month that is part of a high level investigation into the cause of the implosion. Some of the testimony has focused on the troubled nature of the company.
Thursday’s testimony is scheduled to include Justin Jackson of NASA; Mark Negley of Boeing Co.; John Winters of Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound; and Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Duffett of the Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance.
Earlier in the hearing, former OceanGate operations director David Lochridge said he frequently clashed with Rush and felt the company was committed only to making money. “The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge testified. “There was very little in the way of science.”
Lochridge and other previous witnesses painted a picture of a company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
The hearing is expected to run through Friday and include more witnesses.
The co-founder of the company told the Coast Guard panel Monday that he hoped a silver lining of the disaster is that it will inspire a renewed interest in exploration, including the deepest waters of the world’s oceans. Businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Rush, ultimately left the company before the Titan disaster.
“This can’t be the end of deep ocean exploration. This can’t be the end of deep-diving submersibles and I don’t believe that it will be,” Sohnlein said.
Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan’s unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion. The company has no full-time employees currently, but has been represented by an attorney during the hearing.
During the submersible’s final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about Titan’s depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.
When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said. No one on board survived.
OceanGate said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began. Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic wreckage site going back to 2021.
veryGood! (944)
Related
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- NBA investigating accusation that Thunder’s Josh Giddey had relationship with underage girl
- Small Business Saturday: Why is it becoming more popular than Black Friday?
- This designer made the bodysuit Beyoncé wears in 'Renaissance' film poster
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- The casting director for 'Elf' would pick this other 'SNL' alum to star in a remake
- Pakistani shopping mall blaze kills at least 10 people and injures more than 20
- NBA investigating Thunder guard Josh Giddey for allegations involving a minor
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- Activists call on France to endorse a consent-based rape definition across the entire European Union
Ranking
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- The vital question may linger forever: Did Oscar Pistorius know he was shooting at his girlfriend?
- How algorithms determine what you'll buy for the holidays — and beyond
- This designer made the bodysuit Beyoncé wears in 'Renaissance' film poster
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- Caitlin Clark is a scoring machine. We’re tracking all of her buckets this season
- The Excerpt podcast: Cease-fire between Hamas and Israel begins, plus more top stories
- Lulus' Black Friday Sale 2023: Up to 70% Off Influencer-Approved Dresses, Bridal & More
Recommendation
Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
Facing my wife's dementia: Should I fly off to see our grandkids without her?
Papa John's to pay $175,000 to settle discrimination claim from blind former worker
UN confirms sexual spread of mpox in Congo for the 1st time as country sees a record outbreak
Bodycam footage shows high
NCAA president tours the realignment wreckage at Washington State
Gaza cease-fire enters second day with more hostages to be exchanged and critical supplies delivered
Jimmy Carter's last moments with Rosalynn Carter, his partner of almost eight decades