Victor Vescovo

Victor Lance Vescovo (born February 10, 1966) is an American private equity investor, retired naval officer, sub-orbital spaceflight participant, and undersea explorer.

[5] In 2018, Vescovo launched the Five Deeps Expedition, whose objective was to dive to the deepest location in all five of the world's oceans by the end of September 2019.

[8] This objective was achieved one month ahead of schedule, and the expedition's team carried out biological samplings and depth confirmations at each location.

In December 2018, he became the first person to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean, piloting DSV Limiting Factor, a reported US$50 million submarine system (Triton 36000/2)[9] – including its support ship the DSSV Pressure Drop and its three ultra-deep-sea robotic landers – 8,376 m (27,480 ft) below the ocean surface to the base of the Puerto Rico Trench, an area subsequently referred to by world media as Brownson Deep.

[11] The same dive was later undertaken by Patrick Lahey, President of Triton Submarines, and the expedition's chief scientist, Dr. Alan Jamieson.

This dive was organised subsequent to the scanning of the Diamantina fracture zone using multibeam sonar, confirming that the Sunda Trench was deeper and settling the debate about where the deepest point in the Indian Ocean is.

The time they spent there was 176 minutes; among the samples they retrieved was a piece of mantle rock from the western slope of the Mariana Trench.

[20] In February 2020, Vescovo piloted his deep diving submersible twice to the wreck of the French submarine Minerve in the Mediterranean Sea.

[26] In 2019, Victor Vescovo was recognized by Guinness World Records as the person who has covered the greatest vertical distance without leaving Earth's surface.

As part of achieving the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree), Vescovo climbed Mount Everest (8,848 metres (29,029 ft)) on 24 May 2010, Earth's highest point.

These included former astronaut and NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, the first woman to ultimate depth; Kelly Walsh, the son of Don Walsh (who with Jacques Piccard made the first dive into the Challenger Deep) to become the only father/son team to make this journey albeit 60 years apart; and Vanessa O'Brien, the first woman to both climb Mount Everest and also descend to the bottom of the seafloor (Vescovo was the first person).

Forbes has recognized Vescovo as the "First To Climb Everest, Visit Ocean's Deepest Depth And Fly to the Final Frontier.

DSV Limiting Factor of Triton Submarines during sea trials
Vescovo in 2019
Vescovo piloting his submersible during the first of two dives to the wreck of the French submarine Minerve