Tektite habitat#Tektite II

The Tektite habitat was designed and built by General Electric Company Space Division at the Valley Forge Space Technology Center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.{{citation needed|date = March 2020}} The Project Engineer who was responsible for the design of the habitat was Brooks Tenney, Jr. Tenney also served as the underwater Habitat Engineer on the International Mission, the last mission on the Tektite II project.{{citation needed|date = March 2020}} The Program Manager for the Tektite projects was Dr. Theodore Marton at General Electric.{{citation needed|date = March 2020}} The habitat appeared as a pair of silos: two white metal cylinders {{convert|12.5|ft|m}} in diameter and {{convert|18|ft|m}} high, joined by a flexible tunnel and seated on a rectangular base in {{convert|43|ft|m}} depth of water.{{citation needed|date = March 2020}}

Image:Tektite I exterior.jpg

On 28 January 1969, a detachment from Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 augmented by an additional 17 Seabee divers from both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets as well as the 21st NCR began the installation of the habitat in Great Lameshur Bay in the U. S. Virgin Islands.[https://web.archive.org/web/20210510052506/https://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/01/25/this-week-in-seabee-history-week-of-jan-24/ THIS WEEK IN SEABEE HISTORY (Week of Jan. 24)], by Frank A. Blazich Jr, Seabee magazine online They had it completed on February 12. On February 15, 1969, three days later, four U.S. Department of Interior scientists (Ed Clifton, Conrad Mahnken, Richard Waller and John VanDerwalker) descended to the ocean floor to begin the ambitious diving project dubbed "Tektite I". By 18 March 1969, the four aquanauts had established a new world's record for saturated diving by a single team. On April 15, 1969, the aquanaut team returned to the surface with over 58 days of marine scientific studies. More than 19 hours of decompression time were needed to accommodate the scientists' return to the surface.{{cite journal |author=Edel PO |title=Delineation of emergency surface decompression and treatment procedures for project Tektite aquanauts |journal=Aerosp Med |volume=42 |issue=6 |pages=616–21 |date=June 1971 |pmid=5155147 }} The United States Office of Naval Research coordinated Tektite I. Denzil Pauli, of the Office of Naval Research, was the Program Director for Tektite I.

Much of the research for Tektite I centered on humans in this new environment. Topics investigated would include: biology (blood changes, sleep patterns, oxygen toxicity),{{cite journal |vauthors=Johnson PC, Driscoll TB, Fischer CL |title=Blood volume changes in divers of Tektite I |journal=Aerosp Med |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=423–6 |date=April 1971 |pmid=5155127 }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Naitoh P, Johnson LC, Austin M |title=Aquanaut sleep patterns during tektite I: a 60-day habitation under hyperbaric nitrogen saturation |journal=Aerosp Med |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=69–77 |date=January 1971 |pmid=5541094 }}{{cite journal |author=Clark JM |title=The Predictive Studies Series: Correlation of physiologic responses to extreme environmental stresses |journal=Undersea Hyperb Med |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=33–51 |year=2004 |pmid=15233158 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3988 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820004058/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/3988 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=August 20, 2008 |access-date=2008-05-30}} decompression and decompression sickness, microbiology{{cite journal |vauthors=Cobet AB, Wright DN, Warren PI |title=Tektite-I program: bacteriological aspects |journal=Aerosp Med |volume=41 |issue=6 |pages=611–6 |date=June 1970 |pmid=4392833 }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Cobet AB, Dimmick RL |title=Tektite-I program: aerobiological aspects |journal=Aerosp Med |volume=41 |issue=6 |pages=617–20 |date=June 1970 |pmid=4392834 }} and mycology.{{cite journal |vauthors=Levine HB, Cobet AB |title=The tektite-I dive. Mycological aspects |journal=Arch. Environ. Health |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=500–5 |date=April 1970 |pmid=4393404 |doi= 10.1080/00039896.1970.10665629}}

File:HFCA 1607 Tektite II April, 1970 (Color) Volume I 059.jpg (adc7413b8f8245a0a362adaf97af2707).jpg

The United States Department of the Interior coordinated Tektite II, with part of the funding coming from NASA, which was interested in the psychological study of the scientific teams working in closed and restricted environments, similar to that of spacecraft on long missions. A team of Behavioral Observers from the University of Texas at Austin, led by Robert Helmreich, were tasked to record round the clock activities of the aquanauts by CCTV.{{cite web |last=Nowlis |first=D. P. |last2=Wortz |first2=E. C. |last3=Watters |first3=H. |title=Tektite 2 habitability research program |website=NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |date=January 14, 1972 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19720007419 |access-date=11 November 2024}} [https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19720007419/downloads/19720007419.pdf PDF]

The missions were carried out in the spring and summer of 1970 in Great Lameshur Bay, Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, at a depth of {{convert|43|ft|adj=on}}. Tektite II comprised ten missions lasting 10–20 days with four scientists and an engineer on each mission, including one all-female team.

File:HFCA 1607 Tektite II April, 1970 (Color) Volume I 315.jpg (579961ba66a84678a4c2d318e93dcd5a).jpgThe fifth mission, designated Mission 6-50, was the first all-female saturation dive team. The elite team of scientist-divers included Renate Schlentz True of Tulane, team leader Sylvia Earle, Ann Hurley Hartline and Alina Szmant, graduate students at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Margaret Ann "Peggy" Lucas Bond, a Villanova electrical engineering graduate who served as Habitat Engineer.

The Tektite II missions were the first to undertake in-depth ecological studies from a saturation habitat.{{cite web |last=Crawford |first=Amy |title=The Forgotten Women Aquanauts of the 1970s |website=Atlas Obscura |date=24 March 2023 |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/women-aquanauts-tektite-ii |access-date=11 November 2024}} Ichthyologist and director of the Australian Museum, Frank Talbot, joined one of the missions.{{cite web |date=31 May 2023 |title=Dr Frank Hamilton Talbot, Director 1966-1975 |url=https://australian.museum/about/history/people/dr-frank-hamilton-talbot-director-1966-1975/ |access-date=11 November 2024 |website=The Australian Museum}}Medical and human research oversight for Tektite II was well documented in a series of reports covering a project overview,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. I. Introduction |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=5–8 |year=1972 |pmid=4653767 }} saturation diving,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. II. Saturation diving |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=9–18 |year=1972 |pmid=4653769 }} lessons learned from Tektite I,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. 3. Tektite I |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=19–28 |year=1972 |pmid=4653762 }} application to Tektite II,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith FM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. IV. Evolution of project Tektite II |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=29–34 |year=1972 |pmid=4653764 }} medical responsibilities and psychological monitoring,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. V. Medical staff and responsibilities; psychological monitoring |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=35–41 |year=1972 |pmid=4655601 }} medical supervision duties{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II; medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. VI. The spectrum of medical supervision of the aquanauts |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=43–9 |year=1972 |pmid=4653765 }} medical and biological objectives{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. VII. Other medical and biological objectives |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=51–6 |year=1972 |pmid=4653766 }} project logistics,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. 8. Tektite logistics |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=57–84 |year=1972 |pmid=4143923 }} lessons learned,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. IX. Mission-by-mission experiences |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=85–143 |year=1972 |pmid=4653768 }} excursions to deeper depths from storage pressure,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II; medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. X. The aborted 100-FSW (Minitat) program |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=145–53 |year=1972 |pmid=4143922 }} decompression tables,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XI. Decompression tables |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=155–69 |year=1972 |pmid=4653760 }} general medical observations,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XII. General medical observations |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=171–85 |year=1972 |pmid=4675966 }} psychological observations,{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. 13. Some preliminary psychological observations |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=187–90 |year=1972 |pmid=4653761 }} blood changes{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XIV. Biochemical, hematological, and endocrine studies |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=191–201 |year=1972 |pmid=4347306 }} and general program conclusions.{{cite journal |vauthors=Beckman EL, Smith EM |title=Tektite II: medical supervision of the scientists in the sea. XV. Conclusions |journal=Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=203–4 |year=1972 |pmid=4653763 }}

There were nine studies on the ecology of coral reef fishes carried out during the Tektite series:

• influence of herbivores on marine plants
• bio-acoustic studies
• observations on cleaner shrimps
• isopods associated with reef fishes
• behavior of reef fishes in relation to fish pots
• bioturbation by the sand tilefish
• escape response in a damsel fish
• nocturnal-diurnal changeover in activity patterns, and
• space resource-sharing

A goal of the Tektite program was to prove that saturation diving techniques in an underwater laboratory, breathing a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere could be safely and efficiently accomplished at a minimal cost.

Lambertsen's "Predictive Studies Series" that started with Tektite I in 1969 and ended in 1997, researched many aspects of human physiology in extreme environments.

When Tektite II ended, General Electric placed the habitat in storage in Philadelphia. A group of interested parties purchased the habitat from General Electric for $1.00 with the stipulation it would be removed from the GE storage facility.{{citation needed|date = April 2020}} The habitat was trucked across the United States to Fort Mason in San Francisco, where it was placed on display. Attempts were made to refurbish the habitat so it could be used in San Francisco Bay as a teaching tool.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

By 1980, the habitat was fully restored and certified to be used underwater, and named Tektite III; however, funds for actually submerging and operating the habitat again were not available. While the habitat was on display at Fort Mason, many school children were taken through the habitat free of charge by volunteers. Lack of funds ended the project and the habitat was moved to storage along the Oakland Estuary{{citation needed|date = April 2020}} in 1984. After several years, the habitat again deteriorated. In 1991, the habitat was dismantled by welding school students and the metal was recycled.[https://web.archive.org/web/20181006210945/http://www.islands.org/Tektite/index_files/Page992.htm Tektite Underwater Habitat Museum - Tektite III] (archived from [http://www.islands.org/Tektite/index_files/Page992.htm the original]) - Note that this page states: "Web page text edited and revised with permission from James W. Miller and Ian G. Koblick's book: Living and Working in the Sea, 1995.

• {{annotated link|Underwater habitat}}

{{Reflist}}

• Collette, B.B. and S.A. Earle. (Eds.). 1972. [http://www.si.edu/dive/Collette.pdf Results of the Tektite Program: Ecology of coral-reef fishes]. Los Angeles Co. Nat. Hist. Mus. Sci. Bull. 14. 180 p.
• Severn, Stacey for Spaceflight Insider. 2013. [http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-flight-news/nasas-tektite-ii-undersea-habitat-an-interview-with-aquanaut-engineer-peggy-lucas-bond/ NASA's Tektite II Undersea Habitat: And Interview With Aquanaut & Engineer Peggy Lucas Bond]

{{Underwater diving|divsup}}

Category:Underwater habitats

Category:Human analog missions