Per aquas ad astra

Keith’s note: OceanGate statement in full: “We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost. These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew. This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss. The entire OceanGate family is deeply grateful for the countless men and women from multiple organisations of the international community who expedited wide-ranging resources and have worked so very hard on this mission. We appreciate their commitment to finding these five explorers, and their days and nights of tireless work in support of our crew and their families. This is a very sad time for the entire explorer community, and for each of the family members of those lost at sea. We respectfully ask that the privacy of these families be respected during this most painful time.”

Keith’s personal note: A lot of us are personally affected by the loss of Titan. In my case it is close – but small by comparison to others. My friends Scott Parazynski and Meena Wadhwa rode down to Titanic in that sub and took my adventure-seeking expired old NASA badge with them. Alan Stern and Dylan Taylor also made the trip. And my badge went with Dylan to the bottom of Challenger Deep as well. This badge is my “adventure avatar” – and while it is a piece of plastic – it always goes somewhere with a friend – so I feel a little closer to their experience. Now, one of those places it has been has experienced a great loss – and my badge senses a disturbance in The Force. Per aquas ad astra Titan.