[4] Its original name was "the George F. Bond", after the United States Navy physician who was the father of SEALAB in particular and saturation diving in general.

The laboratory is most often used by marine biologists for whom Aquarius acts as home base as they study the coral reef, the fish and aquatic plants that live nearby and the composition of the surrounding seawater.

Aquarius houses sophisticated lab equipment and computers, enabling scientists to perform research and process samples without leaving their underwater facilities.

Scientists on the Aquarius are often called "aquanauts" (as they live underwater at depth pressure for a period equal to or greater than 24 continuous hours without returning to the surface).

Personnel stay inside the main compartment for 17 hours before ascending as the pressure is slowly reduced, so that they do not suffer decompression sickness after the ascent.

During Hurricane Gordon in 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot (4.6 m) seas after one of the habitat's generators caught fire.

[9][10] In 1998, Hurricane Georges nearly destroyed Aquarius, breaking a joint in one of its legs and moving two 8,000-pound (3,600 kg) weights on the wet porch nearly off the structure.

[9][11] In 2017, Hurricane Irma ripped the habitat's 94,000-pound (43,000 kg) life support buoy from its moorings and blew it 14 miles (23 km) away to the Lignum Vitae Channel, as well as damaging the underwater living quarters and wet porch area.

[7][15] A subsequent investigation determined that Smith's death was caused by a combination of factors, including the failure of the electronic functions of his Inspiration closed circuit rebreather due to hydrodynamic forces from a hydraulic impact hammer being used nearby.

Cousteau estimated the team collected the equivalent of two years' worth of surface diving data during the mission, enough for ten scientific papers.