We had great meals today, but not in Aquarius. Bill and Alison prepared a marvelous spread for our staff, starting with homemade sushi in the afternoon then enchiladas with all the fixings for supper. Usually we have a "decompression" party the first evening after a mission, but it's been a tough several days waiting to start our Aquarius mission and the meal brought everyone together in a really positive way.

Ironically, this evening I witnessed a spectacular event - a space shuttle launch. From our backyard in Key Largo we saw the shuttle lifting off to the northeast, over 250 miles away. The shuttle left a pink sunset streak in the sky after the flash of the rockets was gone. I was like a kid jumping around with my wife, pointing, and yelling for our kids. One of the goals of the current Aquarius mission is to evaluate undersea habitation as an analog for long duration spaceflight, and Bill Todd's participation is directly related to this objective. I couldn't help thinking about the astronauts heading to orbit and the International Space Station, while the world's only aquanaut crew remained stuck on land. Perhaps tomorrow we will submerge to Aquarius and begin our research and exploration of "inner space."

Of course, blasting safely off our planet to work in outer space is one of the great achievements of our species, and Aquarius is modest in comparison. But our oceans need help and Aquarius is on the front line in terms of science, education, and advocacy for wise use and protection of our marine resources. So tomorrow we try again to get our mission started.