Ocean Color Web Feature
Timing is everything. In the summer of 1969, within one day of each other, two courageous crews set out to explore new frontiers. Both were NASA missions of pure discovery. One would go to the Sea of Tranquility, the other to explore as no person had done before or has done since, the massive eastern boundary current known as the Gulf Stream.
For eight days in July, the world looked skyward, transfixed, as Apollo 11, with three astronauts aboard, rocketed to the Moon. 
Very few, however, were aware of the launch of PX-15. Manned by six brave aquanauts, the mesoscaph Ben Franklin endured a perilous 30 day, 1400 mile drift-dive deep in the Gulf Stream collecting an unprecedented wealth of oceanographic observations and providing NASA with its first real analogue for prolonged missions in space.
The achievements of Apollo 11 have since become a celebrated event in human history; the astronauts are American heroes. The achievements of PX-15 and her crew were hardly noticed, and remain to most Americans, unknown.
This historic but forgotten mission began on July 14, 1969. Explore the story of this remarkable adventure as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the other NASA mission into the unknown.
