Crystal Cave Of Giants: Inner Space Terranauts

SpaceWeather.com
Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:05 UTC

This week, while astronauts orbited high above Earth installing new science equipment in the laboratories of the International Space Station, a team of terranauts descended into the Earth on their own mission of discovery.

"We were not in outer space, but inner space," says explorer George Kourounis, who sent his pictures from the Cave of Crystals in Naica, Mexico

Three hundred meters below Naica lies an alien world of giant crystals and nearly unbearable heat.

"With an air temperature of 122 F (50 C) and a relative humidity of more than 90%, it feels like 228 F (109 C) in the cave," says Kourounis.

"To survive in this extreme environment, we enter the cave wearing special suits with cooling packs inside and a backpack respirator which allows us to breathe chilled air. Even with all this equipment, I will still be able to stay in the cave for no more than 45 minutes at a time."

Unprotected, even a scant 10 minutes could prove fatal--and that is why this amazing cavern discovered by miners nine years ago remains relatively unexplored.

"Some of the crystals are 11 meters long and weigh as much as 55 tons," marvels Kourounis. "We had to be extremely cautious not to slip and fall. Doing so could get you impaled."

"Wearing the suit," he adds, "you feel like an astronaut who is about to go on a space walk." Make that an inner space walk.

Click here for more pictures and anecdotes from the Cave of Crystals.