Larry Connor, 74, has made billions as an Ohio real estate investor, but he’s also a record-setting skydiver, a NASA-certified astronaut, and a deep-sea diver. Now he wants to build a $30 million, 14-foot, state-of-the-art Triton submarine and dive down to the wreck of the Titanic.
His partner on the two-person sub: Patrick Lahey, one of the most experienced submersible operators in the world who’s also the co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines. Lahey believes in designing safe subs. Indeed, he has said that the OceanGate sub that imploded last June on its own dive to the Titanic, killing all five people on board, was a badly engineered “monstrosity.”
Now Connor and Lahey want to prove that deep-sea diving, with the right engineering and preparation, can be safe. They call their new venture “The Explorer – Return to the Titanic,” and hope to take the 12,500 foot dive to the Titanic wreckage in the summer of 2026.
Connor told The Wall Street Journal, “I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way.”
Connor and Lahey will work with a Triton 4000/2 Abyss Explorer model that Triton says is “the world’s deepest diving acrylic sub.” It can descend 13,000 feet and has several modes so it can resurface quickly if necessary. It also has a glide mode so it can move without disturbing delicate underwear ecosystems.
The basic Triton 4000/2 can travel submerged at 3 knots; it’s 14’ 6” long, 9’ wide, 9’ 8” high, and weighs 26,455 pounds. Two 9’ 8” wings extend on either side for underwater inspection and filming.
Connor and Lahey have some deep-ocean experience together. In 2021, Connor joined Lahey on three deep dives in five days in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific. Their sub actually reached depths of 35,000 feet, more than the height of Mount Everest.
For his space explorations, Connor flew on a private Axiom Space mission to the International Space Station in April, 2022. He and two others paid $55 million each for the ride. They were in space for 17 days and circled the earth 240 times.
Read more at http://tritonsubs.com and see the video below:
