The Titan's Descent

The carbon fiber hull groaned under crushing pressure. Eighteen thousand feet below the Atlantic's surface, five souls sat in darkness as their vessel imploded in milliseconds. The Titan submersible, bound for Titanic's wreck, had become a tomb.

Among the victims was Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate. The man who had dismissed safety regulations as obstacles to innovation. Who had fired employees who raised concerns about the sub's experimental design. Who had called safety protocols "a waste."

In promotional videos, Rush projected confidence bordering on arrogance. "At some point, safety just is pure waste," he declared to Smithsonian Magazine in 2019. "I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed."