The Bin Laden Plot

44 RESEARCH VESSEL ATLANTIS

Bright white lights illuminated the aft deck of Atlantis as Christine O’Connor climbed down through the circular hatch into Alvin’s seven-foot-diameter titanium sphere. Already inside was Ken Hillsley, Alvin’s pilot for tonight’s mission, conducting prelaunch checks. There wasn’t much for Christine to do as she examined the components inside the small sphere she would call home for the next few hours. Packed with electronic equipment and five porthole windows, the visibility in the recently refurbished submersible was an improvement over the three windows in Alvin’s previous sphere, Hillsley explained.

With its new, slightly larger, three-inch-thick titanium sphere, Alvin could dive for up to ten hours to a depth of 6,500 meters — over four miles — and, most famously, had been used to explore the wreckage of RMS Titanic in 1986. Launched from Atlantis, the DSV had carried Dr. Robert Ballard and two others down to the remnants of the ship that had sunk in 1912 after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage across the North Atlantic Ocean.

Equipped with an array of sensors, including four video cameras and several sonars, Alvin also sported a sophisticated navigation system using a fiber-optic gyrocompass, which would prove critical to guiding Alvin to the location where bin Laden’s body was expected. The submersible featured two robotic arms that could be fitted with mission-specific sampling and experimental gear. The modifications required for tonight’s task had already been completed.

As Hillsley prepared for launch, Christine reviewed the emergency procedures she had been briefed on, which weren’t very challenging. If Alvin became disabled, the outer cladding of the submersible could be discarded via controls inside the vessel. The titanium sphere, containing Christine and Hillsley, would then rise to the surface.

The prelaunch checks were completed satisfactorily, and the sphere’s hatch was shut and sealed. Christine felt the lurch as the hydraulic piston attached to the top of Alvin lifted it from the ship’s deck. The DSV rose slowly in the air, toward the top of the A-frame Launch and Recovery System (LARS) — massive metal arms rising from each side of Atlantis, connected together at the top.

Once Alvin completed its ascent, it was locked into place. The DSV was now suspended above the ship, ready for the next phase. Brian Humm gave the order, and two massive pistons on each side of the LARS tilted the A-frame outboard, swinging Alvin into position over the ocean. The hydraulic ram above them reversed, lowering Alvin into the water where it was released from the piston. The DSV bobbed on the surface while the cable to Atlantis was detached.

When the tether was disconnected, Hillsley turned to Christine. It would take ninety minutes, he explained, to reach the ocean bottom. With no connection to Atlantis, they would be on their own until they returned to the surface.

He opened the ballast tank vents, and Alvin began its descent.