In February 1969, four scientists descended 50 feet into Great Lameshur Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands — and didn't surface for 60 days.
Click any aquanaut in the full experience to read their journals, discoveries, and defining quotes.
Project Tektite (1969–1970) was a landmark undersea habitat program jointly sponsored by NASA, the U.S. Navy, the Department of Interior, and General Electric. Located at 50 feet depth in Great Lameshur Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, it housed aquanauts for record-breaking saturation dives to study both marine science and human factors relevant to space exploration.
Tektite's most lasting legacy is its direct pipeline to NASA's human spaceflight program. Dr. Vanderwalker's behavioral data on crew cohesion, stress, and interpersonal dynamics under confinement was used to refine astronaut selection for Skylab (1973) and later the International Space Station. The concept of "analog environments" — using underwater habitats to simulate space — was born here and continues today through NASA's NEEMO program at Aquarius Reef Base.
Tektite II's Mission Group 6 in July 1970 made history as the first all-female aquanaut crew. Their scientific performance was equal to or exceeded that of the male crews — a finding that directly contributed to the eventual inclusion of women in NASA's astronaut corps. Sally Ride's 1983 spaceflight was made more possible by what five women proved underwater in 1970.
The coral surveys conducted during Tektite established the first scientific baseline for Caribbean reef health. Great Lameshur Bay, now protected as part of Virgin Islands National Park, is one of the most monitored reef ecosystems in the world — because of data collection that started in 1969.
NOAA · NASA Technical Reports · National Archives · Smithsonian Institution · National Park Service · USGS · University of Miami RSMAS · Scripps Institution of Oceanography