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OceanGate’s Titan submersible on a platform prior to a 2018 test dive.
(Image credit: OceanGate)
The exploration community is still reeling from the announcement that, despite a days-long international search, the submersible Titan broke apart near the wreckage of the famed Titanic.
All five people aboard the Titan — businessman and explorer Hamish Harding; explorer and diver Paul-Henry Nargolet; businessman Shahzada Dawood; Dawood’s 19-year-old son Suleman; and Stockton Rush, founder and CEO of OceanGate, the company that operated the submersible — are presumed dead.
Titan’s situation — a closed capsule in a hostile environment where few humans venture — echoes the dangers of space exploration. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many figures in the space community offered their support during the search.
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Richard Garriott, space traveler, creator of the Ultima video game series and president of the Explorers Club, which counted Harding and Nargolet as members, tweeted on behalf of the Club, “Our hearts are with family and friends of [the crew] as we await hopefully good news.”
Terry Virts, a former astronaut who was a friend of Harding’s, told Fox News that Harding and the other Titan passengers understood the risk they took by diving deep on the submersible. “I’m sure [Harding] is down there, planning his next explorer’s missions after he gets rescued,” Virts said.
Alas, it was not to be. On Thursday (June 22), a rescue team encountered a broken tail cone, indicating that the Titan had broken apart on its initial descent.
After that find, Garriott tweeted another statement on behalf of the Explorers Club. “We’re heartbroken for the families, friends and colleagues of those who were lost,” he said. “Their memories will be a blessing and will continue to inspire us in the name of science and exploration.”
Former astronaut Scott Parazynski, who flew on five space shuttle missions, tweeted: “Devastated by the loss of the #Titan crew — wonderful explorers, Dads, Sons, Husbands and Friends.” (Parazynski dived aboard the Titan in the past, and in 2022 he joined the board of directors of OceanGate, the company that operated the submersible.)
Devastated by the loss of the #Titan crew – wonderful explorers, Dads, Sons, Husbands and Friends – all of whom were champions of ocean conservation and discovery. My deepest condolences to their families and the @Oceangate team, and gratitude to the many rescuers on the scene.June 22, 2023
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The SETI Institute, which counted Shahzada Dawood as a trustee, also issued a statement of regret, thanking Dawood for his support over the years.
“Shahzada was passionately curious and an enthusiastic supporter of the SETI Institute and our mission, being directly involved in philanthropic programs in education, research and public outreach,” SETI Institute officials wrote. “He will be deeply missed by all who knew him, especially his fellow trustees and the leadership of the SETI Institute.”
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Rahul Rao is a graduate of New York University’s SHERP and a freelance science writer, regularly covering physics, space, and infrastructure. His work has appeared in Gizmodo, Popular Science, Inverse, IEEE Spectrum, and Continuum. He enjoys riding trains for fun, and he has seen every surviving episode of Doctor Who. He holds a masters degree in science writing from New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and earned a bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University, where he studied English and physics.
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