Dewey Smith

Image:NEEMO 13 crew with hab techs.jpg, Smith, NASA astronauts Nicholas Patrick and Richard R. Arnold, habitat technician Jim Buckley, NASA engineer Christopher E. Gerty.]]

Smith was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, but grew up and lived for most of his life in Panama City, Florida. He served in the United States Navy as a Hospital Corpsman aboard the USS Peleliu in San Diego, California, and was honorably discharged after five years of service. He learned to scuba dive while working with Florida State University's Underwater Crime Scene Investigation program.{{cite web|url=http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/2008/11_2008/d_smith.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026201546/http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/2008/11_2008/d_smith.htm|last=Smith|first=Dewey|title=Aquanaut Profiles - Mission & Project Info - NOAA's Aquarius Reef Base|date=November 2008|publisher=University of North Carolina Wilmington|access-date=February 27, 2012|archive-date=October 26, 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsherald/obituary.aspx?n=dewey-dewayne-smith&pid=127080325&fhid=7485|title=Dewey Dewayne Smith Obituary: View Dewey Smith's Obituary by Panama City News Herald|date=May 2009|publisher=Legacy.com|access-date=February 9, 2012}} Smith graduated from FSU with a B.S. degree in underwater crime scene investigation in 2005.{{cite journal|journal=Florida State Times|title=In Memoriam|publisher=Florida State University|date=September 2009|volume=15|issue=2|url=http://unicomm.fsu.edu/content/download/35131/221115/2009_09_FSTimes.pdf|page=12|access-date=February 9, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He subsequently worked as a commercial diver with Miracle Strip Welding & Marine Services and RME-Diver in Panama City Beach, Florida.{{cite web|url=http://www.rmediver.com/id13.html|title=Meet Our Staff|publisher=RME-Diver Commercial Diving LLC|access-date=February 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227013500/http://www.rmediver.com/id13.html|archive-date=2012-02-27|url-status=dead}}

Smith joined Aquarius, which is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the University of North Carolina Wilmington, in 2007. He worked as a habitat technician and undersea research diver.{{cite web|url=http://appserv02.uncw.edu/news/atuncw/annview.aspx?id=5250|title=Dewey Smith, Research Diver at Aquarius, Passed Away Tuesday, May 5 - University of North Carolina Wilmington|date=May 6, 2009|publisher=University of North Carolina Wilmington|access-date=February 3, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703023027/http://appserv02.uncw.edu/news/atuncw/annview.aspx?id=5250|archive-date=July 3, 2010}} As part of his work with Aquarius, Smith answered questions from schoolchildren.{{cite web|url=http://www.nurc.net/blog/ask-an-aquanaut/ask-an-aquanaut-size-of-aquarius-2|title=Ask an Aquanaut: Size of Aquarius|author1=Tomlin Middle School|author-link=Mary L. Tomlin Middle School|last2=Smith|first2=Dewey|publisher=National Undersea Research Center|access-date=March 27, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222000641/http://www.nurc.net/blog/ask-an-aquanaut/ask-an-aquanaut-size-of-aquarius-2|archive-date=2013-02-22|url-status=dead}}{{cite journal|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2009-05-07/html/CREC-2009-05-07-pt1-PgH5375-2.htm|journal=Congressional Record|volume=155|issue=70|title=Honoring Dewey Smith|page=H5375|last=Baird|first=Brian|author-link=Brian Baird|publisher=Government Printing Office|date=May 7, 2009|access-date=March 27, 2012}}

In August 2007, Smith took part as a habitat technician in the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 13 (NEEMO 13) mission, one of a series of NASA-NOAA missions which use Aquarius as an analog environment for space exploration. The NEEMO 13 crew lived and worked underwater aboard Aquarius for ten days.{{cite web|url=http://astrobio.net/includes/html_to_doc_execute.php?id=2430&component=news|title=Vigilance Under the Sea|work=Astrobiology Magazine|access-date=February 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020003813/http://www.astrobio.net/includes/html_to_doc_execute.php?id=2430&component=news|archive-date=2014-10-20|url-status=usurped}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.nurc.net/blog/neemo-13/neemo-13-topside-report-training-week|title=NEEMO 13 Topside Report - Training Week|access-date=February 3, 2012|publisher=NURC|author=Topside Team|date=August 8, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509054152/http://www.nurc.net/blog/neemo-13/neemo-13-topside-report-training-week|archive-date=May 9, 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/behindthescenes/training/html/jsc2007e042251.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210010916/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/behindthescenes/training/html/jsc2007e042251.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 10, 2007|title=Photo-jsc2007e042251|author=National Aeronautics and Space Administration|author-link=National Aeronautics and Space Administration|date=August 14, 2007|publisher=NASA|access-date=February 3, 2012}}

Image:Aquarius external.jpg

In May 2009, Smith was aboard Aquarius to train U.S. Navy divers in saturation diving and prepare for upcoming scientific studies in the Conch Reef area.

On May 5, 2009, Smith was assisting two Navy divers, Bill Dodd and Corey Seymour, who were 300 feet from Aquarius using an underwater jackhammer to install a way station that would contain breathable air. Smith informed Dodd and Seymour that he was returning to Aquarius but would be back. Five or ten minutes later, Seymour noticed that Smith was lying on his side in the water, his mouthpiece out of his mouth. Seymour began carrying Smith back to Aquarius, but his air umbilical became fouled about thirty yards from the habitat. Dodd carried Smith the rest of the distance to Aquarius, where the other divers in the habitat helped them get Smith inside. Resuscitation attempts by Dodd, Seymour, and two Navy physicians who dove to the habitat were unsuccessful. Smith was pronounced dead at 3:25 pm by a Navy doctor. His death was the first associated with the Aquarius program.

A subsequent investigation by a panel of outside experts determined that Smith's death was caused by a combination of three factors: the failure of the electronic functions of his Inspiration closed circuit rebreather (CCR) due to hydrodynamic forces from the hydraulic impact hammer being used nearby, Smith's inattention to his handset and head up displays, and the other two divers allowing Smith to return to Aquarius alone. The investigation concluded that due to these issues Smith became unconscious from hypoxia and drowned when the mouthpiece came out of his mouth. Saturation and CCR diving at Aquarius were suspended in the wake of Smith's death, but the review board recommended that they be resumed with the implementation of additional safety measures.

Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Brian Baird recognized Smith's service on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, whose district includes the Florida Keys and who had met Smith during a visit to the Aquarius facility, also offered a statement of condolence.{{cite web|url=http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/ros-lehtinen-comments-passing-aquarius-diver-dewey-smith|title=Ros-Lehtinen Comments On The Passing Of Aquarius Diver Dewey Smith|date=May 5, 2009|last=Ros-Lehtinen|first=Ileana|author-link=Ileana Ros-Lehtinen|publisher=United States House of Representatives|access-date=February 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010035852/https://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/ros-lehtinen-comments-passing-aquarius-diver-dewey-smith|archive-date=October 10, 2011|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://cdiver.net/blog/2009/05/10/no-cause-yet-for-noaa-divers-death/|title=No cause yet for NOAA diver's death|date=May 10, 2009|publisher=cDiver.net|access-date=February 4, 2012}} On May 15, 2009, at a panel at International Space Medicine Summit III devoted to human performance in analog environments, astronaut-aquanaut Dafydd Williams, who had participated in two NEEMO missions, asked for a moment of silence in Smith's memory.{{cite web|url=http://bakerinstitute.org/publications/SP-pub-ISMSIIIExecSum-021510-web.pdf|title=International Space Medicine Summit III Executive Summary|publisher=James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University|date=February 2010|pages=1, 5, 43, 46|access-date=February 5, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313114336/http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/SP-pub-ISMSIIIExecSum-021510-web.pdf|archive-date=March 13, 2012}} Aquarius donated a Superlite 17 diving helmet, the helmet most frequently worn by Aquarius aquanauts, to the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada, Florida in memory of Smith.{{cite web|url=http://historyofdivingmuseum.blogspot.com/2011/10/remembering-aquanaut-dewey-smith.html|title=Dive into History: The History of Diving Museum Collections Blog: Remembering an Aquanaut: Dewey D. Smith|author=Erin|date=October 11, 2011|access-date=February 3, 2012}}

Smith was a triathlete.[https://books.google.com/books?id=V4sbNMwQJI4C&pg=PT261 Hellwarth], p. 261. He enjoyed playing the drums, tennis, exercising and movies.

{{Reflist|35em}}

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• {{Cite web |url=http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/2008/11_2008/d_smith.htm |title=Smith's self-profile |access-date=January 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026201546/http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/2008/11_2008/d_smith.htm |archive-date=October 26, 2009 |url-status=dead }}
• {{YouTube|7Fsd57Gkz5s|Aquarius tour video}}
• [https://archive.today/20130414111713/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/appearance/595191012 Video of Representative Brian Baird's tribute to Smith]
• [http://aaus.memberclicks.net/ccboard/10100473_1322493065940.pdf External Review Board report on Smith's death]{{dead link|date=August 2013}}

{{Underwater diving|hisdiv}}

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Category:1972 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:American male triathletes

Category:American underwater divers

Category:Aquanauts

Category:Florida State University alumni

Category:People from Panama City, Florida

Category:Underwater diving deaths

Category:United States Navy corpsmen

Category:University of North Carolina at Wilmington people

Category:20th-century American sportsmen