James Cameron Back From Planet's Deepest Spot

James Cameron is back from a solo dive to the deepest place on earth, having spent three hours exploring the scene 35,756 feet below the ocean's surface, reports CNET. (To put things in perspective, Mount Everest is 29,029 feet tall.) To allow him to film and capture samples in the Mariana Trench, Cameron's submersible, "Deepsea Challenger," contained 3-D cameras, an eight-foot lighting tower, a sediment sampler, a robotic claw, and, most delightfully, a "slurp gun," which can suction-up tiny creatures.

Even with the cutting-edge submersible, it took two hours 36 minutes to descend all the way to the bottom, though his return trip took just 70 minutes. "@JimCameron has surfaced! Congrats to him on his historic solo dive to the ocean's deepest point," his dive team tweeted upon his return. (More James Cameron stories.)