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Dennis Chamberland Is Building an Undersea Habitat, Winning the Internet (Video)

When Dennis Chamberland was 12 years old, he dreamed of escaping his small Oklahoman town for somewhere much farther away. One day he wrote "a letter":http://quest.nasa.gov/space/challenge/team/chamberland.html to NASA's Kennedy Space Center: bq...

When Dennis Chamberland was 12 years old, he dreamed of escaping his small Oklahoman town for somewhere much farther away. One day he wrote a letter to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center:

Dear Sir,
Please send me all the information you have on the space program.

Sincerely,
Dennis Chamberland

Mail from NASA began arriving, and it didn’t stop. Every couple of months for the next few years, space program spam fed Chamberland’s exploration fantasies. Still, he couldn’t have imagined where that early letter would take him.

Now Chamberland’s exploration dream is coming true underwater. An ecologically-minded NASA aquanaut and engineer, he’s building his very own undersea colony. Our documentary about him from last year was one of our favorites. CNN liked him too, so yesterday they put it up on their front page.

The pick-up prompted Dennis’ son to start a Q+A session with his dad on Reddit. When we spoke to Dennis today, he said that the first part of the habitat could be ready for submersion by summer, in advance of the first mission in 2012. That’s right around the time that NASA will be retiring the Space Shuttle.

If video doesn’t float your boat, you can sign up to join the “The League” and sink into this video-game-esque adventure in real life.

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