Who owns OceanGate and what is the Titan tourist submarine? All about the Titanic expedition
- Search and rescue teams are racing to find a submarine near the Titanic wreck
- OceanGate’s Titan submarine went missing with five onboard on Monday
- Find out who owns OceanGate and what the Titan submarine is below
The race is on for search and rescue teams to find the tourist submarine which went missing while exploring the Titanic wreck.
OceanGate’s Titan submarine went missing on Monday morning, after the expedition to the Titanic wreckage began on Sunday.
OceanGate have provided tourists with the opportunity to explore the wreckage for a number of years.
To find out all about the expedition, and who owns OceanGate, read on.
OceanGate have provided tourists with the opportunity to explore the Titanic wreckage for a number of years
The Titan submarines can hold five people (generic interior picture above)
The Titanic’s wreck is 13,000ft below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean
Who owns OceanGate?
OceanGate was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush, who remains the CEO of the company.
Rush, 61, is one of the five missing onboard the submersible which went missing on Monday.
He is a qualified aerospace engineer, and became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world ages just 19, when he DC-8 Type/Captain’s rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute.
Since then, Rush personally built a Glasair III aircraft, and heavily modified a Kittredge K-350 two-man submersible, which has gone on over 30 dives to date.
He now oversees OceanGate’s financial and engineering strategies.
In a longform interview with CBS News last year, Rush repeatedly said that the explorers would be safe and had the oxygen necessary to survive, but did not appear unaware of the risks involved.
He said: ‘There’s a limit. You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste.
‘If you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed.’
OceanGate was founded in 2009 by Stockton Rush, who remains the CEO of the company
What is the Titan tourist submarine?
The Titan submersible is a submarine which carry five people to depths of 13,000ft.
The vessel has been described as ‘experimental’, but made its first successful dive to the Titanic as long ago as 2021.
Passengers view whatever they have dived to see through a porthole at the front of the 6.7-metre-long craft.
The submarine, which is made primarily of titanium and carbon fibre and weighs over 10,000kg, is controlled by what resembles a video-game controller.
Although it is not clear whether this is what has resulted in a drop in communication in this instance, Titan uses Elon Musk’s Starlink technology to communicate with its mothership on the water’s surface.
There is reportedly a 96-hour oxygen store onboard, giving hope to those in search of the submersible after the disappearance this week.
Who goes on the submersible expeditions?
A photo of OceanGate’s ‘Mission 3 and Mission 4 crews’, posted online by the company before setting sail
It is usually used by scientists, archaeologists, or marine biologists, but is open to tourists able and willing to pay the $250,000 fee.
‘Citizen explorers’ to have gone on the expedition include director of Hollywood blockbuster, Titanic, James Cameron.
Clients are told that ‘if money isn’t an object and you don’t mind close quarters’ they can join one of the trips, but are expected to play an active role in the expedition.
They are also urged to ‘restrict your diet’ before the journey although there is a small toilet situated in the front dome, the ‘best seat in the house’.
OceanGate stated earlier this year: ‘We are truly inspired by [passengers’] sense of adventure, amazing life experiences, and willingness to jump right in.’
What happened to Titan this week?
This is the last sighting of the submersible, Titan, which was launched on Sunday. It is seen in a photograph shared by Hamish Harding’s company. He and the four others onboard remains unaccounted for
OceanGate’s CEO and four others were last seen as the Titan submersible was launched on Sunday.
Those four others included British Businessmen Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood, and Dawood’s son Suleman.
French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet is also believed to be on board.
The five set off for the Titanic wreckage, but lost contact with its mothership – the Polar Prince – an hour and 45 minutes into the eight-hour journey.
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