A deeply impressive woman

In June 2020, Dr Kathryn Sullivan, an American geologist, became the first woman to reach Earth’s deepest point and only the eighth person to go there at all. Sullivan visited Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench – nearly 11km below the surface of the Pacific Ocean – with underwater explorer Victor Vescovo. They travelled to the seabed in Vescovo’s two-person submersible Limiting Factor. Sullivan is an explorer by nature. A former NASA astronaut, she became the first American woman to walk in space in October 1984.

Dr Kathryn Sullivan in the submersible vehicle Limiting Factor, which she used to descend into the Mariana Trench