Aquanaut

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An aquanaut is any individual who travels underwater, or sometimes, one who has lived and worked in a fixed underwater habitat on the seafloor or other underwater location for a period equal to or greater than 24 continuous hours without returning to the surface. An aquanaut can in some usages be distinct from a submariner, in that a submariner is confined to a moving underwater vehicle such as a submarine. However, aqua-naut derives from aqua ("water") plus the Greek nautes ("sailor") - implying simple motion is sufficient to qualify. It is a slightly old-fashioned term, often used in a similar manner to which one might write "aeronaut" instead of "pilot".

The first human aquanaut, by the second definition, was Robert Stenuit who lived onboard a tiny one man cylinder at 200 feet for 24 hours in September 1962 off Villefranche on the French Riviera.

[edit] See also

• Astronaut - a similar term

[edit] References

Miller, J.W and Koblick, I., Living and Working In the Sea, 1998