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The Gulf Stream Drift Mission was a great success. The submersible drifted for 30 days and 11 hours and covered a distance of approximately 2400 kilometres at an average depth of 200 metres. They made excursions to depths between 400 metres and 600 metres. All aspects of the submersible performed well. Over four million oceanographic measurements about Gulf Stream velocity, salinity, temperature, turbidity, the sea floor geology and gravitational and magnetic anomalies were made during the voyage.
The mission provided valuable information for NASA for future space travel. The crew reacted well to the rigours of the 30 day drift dive. They had few problems; the environmental conditions were well maintained, the food was tolerated the food (although they complained about), oceanographic experiments were conducted according to schedule and the crew worked well together. Areas the crew identified for improvement include the interactions between the crew and the support team and increased communications with the outside world. |
