Representatives from NASA, Boeing Co., and the U.S. Coast Guard are set to testify on Thursday before investigators looking into the experimental submersible that imploded during its journey to the Titanic wreck site. OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among the five victims of the June 2023 disaster, which has drawn scrutiny over the design of the Titan submersible.

The Coast Guard initiated a public hearing earlier this month as part of a broader investigation into the cause of the implosion. Much of the testimony has focused on the troubled state of the company. Thursday’s scheduled witnesses include Justin Jackson of NASA, Mark Negley from Boeing Co., John Winters from Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, and Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Duffett from the Coast Guard's Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance.

Earlier in the hearing, David Lochridge, a former director of operations at OceanGate, testified that he frequently clashed with Rush and believed the company was primarily driven by profit. “The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge stated, adding that “there was very little in the way of science.” Lochridge and other witnesses described a company that was eager to launch its unconventional craft into the water despite concerns. The tragedy has sparked global discussions about the future of private undersea exploration.

The hearings are expected to continue until Friday, with additional witnesses. OceanGate’s co-founder, Guillermo Sohnlein, who left the company before the Titan incident, expressed to the Coast Guard panel that he hopes the disaster will lead to renewed interest in ocean exploration. He emphasized, “This can’t be the end of deep ocean exploration. This can’t be the end of deep-diving submersibles and I don’t believe that it will be.”

During the hearing, Coast Guard officials noted that the submersible had not undergone the standard independent review, which, along with Titan’s unconventional design, attracted criticism from the undersea exploration community. OceanGate, which was based in Washington state, halted its operations after the implosion and currently has no full-time employees, though it has been represented by legal counsel during the hearings.

In Titan’s final dive on June 18, 2023, communication was lost following a series of text exchanges regarding the submersible's depth and weight. The support ship Polar Prince continued to send messages, asking if Titan could still see the ship on its display. One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince read, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the investigation.

Once the submersible was overdue, rescue efforts involving ships, planes, and other equipment were deployed to a location approximately 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The wreckage of the Titan was later discovered on the ocean floor, about 330 yards (300 meters) from the Titanic’s bow. Sadly, no one aboard survived.

OceanGate has stated that it is fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations, which have been ongoing since the incident. Titan had been conducting voyages to the Titanic wreck site since 2021. AP