01
July
2010
Third season of Mir Submersibles in Lake Baikal Scientific Research Expedition begins
The weather forced the organizers to make some adjustments to
the route of the first expedition, and the planned dives near the
Circum-Baikal Railway have been moved due to heavy fog to Cape
Listvyanichny and Cape Syty, north of the village of Listvyanka.
First to dive was the Mir-2 submersible, crewed by Commander
Yevgeny Chernyaev, Hero of Russia; Pilot/Observer Mikhail
Slipenchuk, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fund for
Protection of Lake Baikal and Head of METROPOL Group; and Valentin
Kazantsev, WWII veteran and sailor of the border guard. The hatches
with the Mir-2 crew were battened down at 14:12, and the dive began
at 14:26 local time. An hour later, the submersible reached the
depth of 1450 meters. Currently, the Mir-2 is moving to the surface
along the underwater slope.
The second submersible, Mir-1, piloted by Commander Viktor
Nishcheta and observers Boris Danilov, Deputy Governor of Irkutsk
Region and Sergei Yevchikom, Deputy Head of the Baikal Economic
Forum Press Center, began to dive at 14:55. At 16:10 the
submersible reached the 1402-meter depth mark.
