Has Anyone Been to the Bottom of the Mariana Trench?
The short answer
Yes. By July 2022 at least 27 people had reached the Challenger Deep, the deepest spot in the ocean, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. That is more than twice the 12 people who walked on the Moon. The trench passed the Moon on June 26, 2020, when the 13th person reached the bottom.
None of them walked there. Every visitor stayed inside a submersible.
Who went down, and when
The first two went in 1960. Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh rode the bathyscaphe Trieste down on January 23 and spent 20 minutes on the bottom. Their own cloud of silt blocked the view. Nobody had even been to space yet.
Then no person went back down for 52 years. In March 2012 James Cameron dove alone in Deepsea Challenger. In 2019 the sub Limiting Factor started carrying people down. It was built and certified to dive to full ocean depth again and again. By May 2019 it had taken the count to seven.
On June 7, 2020, astronaut Kathy Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, became the 8th. She walked in space, never on the Moon. Four more people followed that month, and on June 26 Jim Wigginton made it 13. Three crew of China's sub Fendouzhe (Striver) went down in November 2020, and 11 more people rode Limiting Factor in 2021 and 2022.
Why so few
The pressure at the bottom is over 1,000 times the pressure at sea level. On a fingertip pad of about 1 square centimeter, that push equals the weight of about 1.1 metric tons. That is a small car on every fingertip.
Space is the opposite. It is a vacuum, so nothing pushes on a spacecraft from outside.
And the Moon?
Twelve people walked on the Moon, on six Apollo missions between July 1969 and December 1972. The last crew, Apollo 17, stayed on the surface about three days. Trieste's crew had 20 minutes on the bottom.
Nobody has walked on the Moon since December 1972. By October 2026 that is 53 years, a longer wait than the trench's 52.
Key numbers
| What | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| People who walked on the Moon | 12 (July 1969 to December 1972) | NASA, Apollo 17 |
| First people at the bottom of the Challenger Deep | 2, on January 23, 1960 | Wikipedia, List of people who descended to Challenger Deep |
| Time Trieste's crew spent on the bottom | 20 minutes | US Navy History and Heritage Command, H Gram 041 |
| Years with no person at the bottom | 52 (1960 to 2012) | Wikipedia, List of people who descended to Challenger Deep |
| Depth of the Challenger Deep | almost 11 km (about 35,800 ft) | NBC News, 2020 |
| Kathy Sullivan's place in the count | 8th, on June 7, 2020 | Wikipedia, List of people who descended to Challenger Deep |
| People at the bottom when the trench passed the Moon | 13, on June 26, 2020 | Wikipedia, List of people who descended to Challenger Deep |
| People at the bottom by July 2022 | at least 27 | Wikipedia, List of people who descended to Challenger Deep |
| Pressure at the bottom | over 1,000 times sea level pressure | Our arithmetic from NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory |
| Push on a 1 cm² fingertip pad at the bottom | the weight of about 1.1 metric tons | Our arithmetic from NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory |
| Apollo 17's stay on the Moon's surface | about three days | NASA, Apollo 17 |
| Time since anyone walked on the Moon | 53 years (December 1972 to October 2026) | Our arithmetic from NASA, Apollo 17 |
What the film simplifies
- The scoreboard counts people, not dives. Each person counts once, however many times they went down.
- The board stops at 27+. That is the count on the Wikipedia list as of July 2022. The plus is there because some tallies come out higher.
- The Moon's column shows bootprints and the trench's shows portholes, because nobody walks at the bottom. The Moon's excuse, "They didn't even walk down there!", is true.
- "Three days" against "twenty minutes" compares the last Moon landing with the very first trench dive, not with the dives that came later.
- "A car on every fingertip" rounds about 1.1 metric tons on a 1 cm² fingertip pad to a small car.
- The Moon and Pressure are cartoon characters. The astronaut's sticker shows only a helmet visor, with no name.
For teachers
Runtime 1 minute 11 seconds · Topics: Deep sea exploration, Mariana Trench, Moon landings, Water pressure · Captions on YouTube · Full script below
Ask your class
The trench got its first visitors in 1960, nine years before the first Moon landing. Why was the Moon ahead from 1969 until 2020?
Answer
After 1960 no person went back down for 52 years, and even by May 2019 only seven people had been, while 12 walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The trench passed 12 only on June 26, 2020, with its 13th visitor.
The count sat at 3 after 2012. How did it reach 13 by June 2020?
Answer
From 2019, Limiting Factor was built and certified to dive to full ocean depth again and again, so it could take new people down dive after dive: seven by May 2019, then six more in June 2020.
The Moon says "They didn't even walk down there!" Is it right, and does it matter?
Answer
It is right: every visitor stayed inside a sub. But they still reached the bottom, and nobody has walked on the Moon since December 1972. That is 53 years, longer than the trench's 52 year gap.
The script
The Moon: Twelve people walked on me!
The Moon: The bottom of the Mariana Trench? Only two!
Pressure: Not anymore.
Host: 1960: two men reach the bottom.
Host: Nobody had even been to space yet.
Pressure: Two to nothing!
The Moon: Then everybody came to me!
The Moon: My last one stayed three days. Yours? Twenty minutes!
Host: And the bottom? Nobody went back down for 52 years.
Pressure: Hello? ...Anybody?
The Moon: Are they scared of you, Pressure?
Pressure: They should be. I park a car on every fingertip!
Host: 2012: James Cameron goes down alone.
The Moon: Three? Adorable.
Host: In 2019, a sub built to dive again and again.
Host: Four, five, six, seven!
The Moon: Still twelve. Still twelve!
Host: In 2020, number eight is an astronaut.
The Moon: Traitor!
Host: Nine, ten, eleven... twelve.
The Moon: A tie?!
Host: And number...
Pressure: THIRTEEN! I BEAT THE MOON!
The Moon: They didn't even walk down there!
Host: And the Moon? Nobody's walked on it in 53 years.
The Moon: ...Hello? Anybody?
Sources
- In 1960, Trieste's two crew spent 20 minutes on the bottom.US Navy History and Heritage Command, H Gram 041
- 12 people walked on the Moon, the last in December 1972.NASA, Apollo 17
- No person went back down from 1960 until 2012. By June 2020, 13 people had reached the Challenger Deep.Wikipedia, List of people who descended to Challenger Deep
- James Cameron dove to the bottom alone in March 2012.National Geographic, 2012
- Limiting Factor, from 2019, was certified for repeated full depth dives.DNV
- Astronaut Kathy Sullivan was the eighth person down, in June 2020.NBC News, 2020
- Pressure at the trench bottom is about 1,080 atmospheres.NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory