The Mir-2 reached the bottom of the Arctic Ocean

At 12.53 p.m. (Moscow time), the Mir-2 reached the ocean bed at a depth of 4,302 meters. “The course is slow, the bottom is muddy, because of rising sludge the water is turbid, visibility is low”, said pilot Evgeny Cherniaev.

Such a situation is dangerous for the joint work of two devices. For this reason, and the Mir-2's inability to shoot the set of the Russian flag by the Mir-1, it was decided not to risk and not to move the devices to each other. “We could waste time, energy and interfere with the operation”, said the Mir-2 pilot, Evgeny Cherniaev.

The Mir-2 crew is international. The commander of the crew is Evgeny Cherniaev. On board there are two foreigners: an Australian polar explorer, Mike McDowell, who has already dove 27 times, as well as a businessman, Frederick Paulsen, President of the International Center “Ferrying”.

Note that the dive at the North Pole is a Herculean task. Lifting appliances is jewellry work. The Akademik Fedorov lies in a small ice-hole. It is necessary to reach the open water from a depth of four kilometers, the length and width of which is not more than three hundred meters. The pilots did not know how the compass gyro worked at the pole, where magnetic lines are vertical. Ice and, consequently, an ice-hole with floating blocks of ice in it, constantly drift with a velocity of about 600 meters per hour. The floating ice was in the ice-hole.

MVK is a media partner of the Arktika-2007 expedition. The purpose of the MVK expedition is to develop the exposure of the polar museum which, incidentally, was first discovered at the North Pole. Director General of MVK, Alexey Shaburov, leads the project, New opportunities in business and life. He noted, “We clearly understand the importance of the event for the country, for the development and exploitation of the polar areas. We have established a museum dedicated to legendary Papanin and his team. Today, our task is to hold our history and the modern polar explorers’ feats trough some generations”.

On the phone: Natalia Yurchenko,
Press Secretary of Director General of MVK
The research vessel Akademik Fedorov – the Arctic Ocean – the North Pole