The saga of the missing Titanic submersible Titan continues to grip the world. And now three days after the OceanGate watercraft vanished, anger is beginning to mount over the doomed mission.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is one of the five men on the Titan, with around 20 hours of oxygen left.
The Titan is currently missing with five people on board after it lost communication during a dive to the Titanic's wreckage, which is around 12,500ft below the Atlantic.
A frantic search and rescue operation is underway to locate and recover the submersible - if any vessels are able to reach it.
Among those taking part in the expedition are billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai, and Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince's Trust charity, plus his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.
Rush is on board the vessel, which vanished on Sunday, along with French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet who has completed previous trips to the Titanic.
Here, DailyMail.com takes a closer look at Rush and the other OceanGate executives, who are likely to face intense attention - and possible legal action - in the coming weeks, regardless of whether the sub can be saved.
Stockton Rush, full name Richard Stockton Rush III, is the CEO of OceanGate and is one of five people who boarded its Titan submersible to visit the site of the Titanic wreck
Banging sounds have been detected in the massive search for the missing Titanic submarine
Stockton Rush: Millionaire teen jet prodigy and 'face' of firm who's among five men trapped in stricken Titan with time running out
Seattle-born Rush, 61, founded OceanGate Expeditions in 2009 - after trying, and failing, to buy explorer and businessman Steve Fossett's submersible, after the adventurer died in a 2007 plane crash.
As a young man, Rush, full name Richard Stockton Rush III, was more interested in space than deep seas and dreamed of being the first man on Mars.
How long was Rush's pilot career?
At 19, he became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world, qualifying with the United Airlines Jet Training Institute.
For the next three years, he flew for Saudi Arabian Airlines on his summer holidays from his aerospace engineering course at Princeton.
From 1984 he worked with the US Air Force on F-15s and anti-satellite missile programs, with the aim of eventually taking part in the space program.
He also spent two decades as chair of Remote Control Technologies, as director of Entomo, Inc., and director for BlueView Technologies.
As a young man, Rush, full name Richard Stockton Rush III, was more interested in space than deep seas and dreamed of being the first man on Mars
At 19, he became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world before going on to graduate from Princeton with a degree in aerospace engineering
OceanGate have provided tourists with the opportunity to explore the Titanic wreckage for a number of years
Where did Rush go to college and work before OceanGate?
Rush obtained an MBA from Berkeley, and graduated from Princeton with a degree in aerospace engineering in 1984, going on to work for multiple companies, specializing in sonar, subsea technology and radars.
He built a Glasair III experimental aircraft which he flew regularly, and his own Kittredge K-350 two-man submersible.
When did he set up OceanGate - and why?
At the age of 44, he decided that the final frontier was in fact, the ocean. Mars, he said, just wasn't economically viable.
He founded OceanGate Expeditions - recently valued at $66million - after failing to buy explorer and businessman Steve Fossett's submersible in 2007.
He went on to buy his first submarine from a private seller in 2009 and, a year later, added the submarine Antipodes.
The two vessels allowed him to make 130 dives within two years and he quickly began making his own vessel, a submersible.
Discussing his determination to reach the Titanic, Rush said in 2019: 'If you ask people to name something underwater, it's going to be sharks, whales, Titanic.'
In a 2017 interview, he said: 'I realized that what I really wanted to do was explore. I wanted to be Captain Kirk and in our lifetime, the final frontier is the ocean.'
OceanGate charges $250,000 per seat and Rush said in 2017 that his first clients were all travellers on Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
Rush, whose net worth is unclear, founded OceanGate in 2009, beginning with a five-person submarine he bought from a private owner
TIMELINE OF EVENTS: The Titan lost contact with the surface sparking panic. All timings given in BST, five hours ahead of EST.
Rush grew up in a wealthy family, with his maternal grandparents Ralph K. Davies, chair of the American President Lines
Rush always intended to take tourists to the Titanic: in 2017, he said he planned to then branch out to excursions to hydrothermal vents or deep-sea canyons, and underwater battlefield tours. He then hoped to work with oil and gas exploration.
The so-called 'adventure travel market' is the key target of OceanGate, Rush said previously. 'There's a huge demand for unique travel experiences,' he added.
Speaking about his company's trademark undersea trip, Rush said in 2017: 'It really is a life-changing experience and there aren't a lot of things like that
'Rather than spend $65,000 to climb Mt. Everest, maybe die, and spend a month living in a miserable base camp, you can change your life in a week.'
The words now take on a haunting edge as his friends and family - including wife Wendy - pray for his rescue.
Who is Rush married to and what do we know about his family life?
The CEO is a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton.
Rush grew up in a wealthy family, with his maternal grandparents Ralph K. Davies, chair of the American President Lines, and Louise M. Davies, who paid $5 million for a San Francisco concert hall that is named for her.
The CEO is a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush (right) and Richard Stockton (left)
In a 2017 interview, he said: 'I realized that what I really wanted to do was explore. I wanted to be Captain Kirk and in our lifetime, the final frontier is the ocean'
Wendy Rush, the wife of Stockton Rush and also Director of Communications at OceanGate
Going further back, he is descended from Annis Stockton, a celebrated poet and friend of George Washington, who was one of the most prolific and widely published women writers in 18th Century America.
She also kept vital documents hidden during the Revolutionary War. Later ancestors include US Attorney General Richard Rush and US Civil War commander Richard Henry Rush.
He married his wife Wendy, a Licensed pilot and substitute teacher in 1986, and the pair had two children together.
Wendy is currently working for OceanGate in their Communications department, though the company appears to have outsourced amid the ongoing search efforts.
The couple had Quincy, 32, a Law Clerk at the United States District Court in the Central District of California and Richard, 33, a pilot in Washington.
On social media his son, who is married, appears to have his father's enthusiasm for deep sea diving and posted several photos of himself investigating various underwater wrecks.
The couple had Quincy, 32, (right) a Law Clerk at the United States District Court in the Central District of California and Richard, 33, (left) a pilot in Washington.
The so-called 'adventure travel market' is the key target of OceanGate, Rush said previously. 'There's a huge demand for unique travel experiences,' he added
Scott Griffith: OceanGate's Director of Logistics and Quality insurance who is responsible for planning and executing ALL missions
Scott Griffiths, Director of Logistics and Quality, is one of the leadership team who takes responsibility for all of the expeditions, according to his LinkedIn.
He has worked for OceanGate since 2013, becoming the logistics boss in 2020, and creates the 'risk assessment' documents for each dive the company makes.
The company website states: 'He has spent the past seven years supervising the maintenance, testing, and operation of Antipodes, Cyclops 1, Titan, and OceanGate's patented launch and recovery platform, and additionally he has led numerous OceanGate Expeditions across the globe a Mission Director.'
Griffith also piloted several deep submersibles on numerous expeditions – including five dives to the Titanic wreck.
Scott Griffiths, Director of Logistics and Quality, is one of the leadership team who takes responsibility for all of the expeditions, according to his LinkedIn. Pictured on Titan
Wendy is currently working for OceanGate in their Communications department, though the company appears to have outsourced amid the ongoing search efforts
He has worked for OceanGate since 2013, becoming the logistics boss in 2020, and creates the 'risk assessment' documents for each dive the company makes
Before joining OceanGate in 2013, Griffith was a principal of a design consulting firm where he oversaw projects and managed all sectors of the firm: Architects, Engineers, Forensic consultants, Project Managers, and office staff.
In 2018, the Manned Underwater Vehicles committee of the Marine Technology Society, a 60-year-old trade group, warned that the 'current 'experimental' approach' of the company could result in problems 'from minor to catastrophic.'
The company also fired David Lochridge, who was Director of Marine operations for the Titan project, after disagreeing with his demand for more rigorous safety checks on the submersible, including 'testing to prove its integrity'.
Additionally, the company opted against having the craft 'classed', an industry-wide practice whereby independent inspectors ensure vessels meet accepted technical standards.
Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there on Sunday
Shahzada Dawood, 48, a board member of the Prince's Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, (pictured together) are on board the missing submarine
Before working at OceanGate Doug Gorder co-founded Vigilos which provided physical security management tools to the U.S. Navy and FBI.
Doug Gorder: Chief Financial Officer of OceanGate co-founded company that created security management tools for the US Navy and FBI
Doug Gorder is responsible for managing all financial aspects of the company, as well as working with the leadership team to achieve the company's mission.
Before working at OceanGate he co-founded Vigilos which provided physical security management tools to the U.S. Navy and FBI.
He has raised over $85 million in venture and angel financing for a dozen companies.
Gorder was also a co-founder and CFO/VP Operations for The Cobalt Group, which serves the automotive industry, completed an IPO in 1999 and was acquired in 2010 by ADP for $400 million.
He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University and an MBA in Finance and MIS from the University of Washington.
Paul-Henry Nargeolet is considered the world's leading expert on the Titanic and is also missing on the sub
OceanGate Expeditions offers the once in a lifetime opportunity to be a specially trained crew member safely diving to the Titanic wreckage site
NASA Astronaut Dr. Scott Parazynski raved about his journey thousands of feet below the ocean surface to view the Titanic wreckage just two months before a tourist sub went missing
Scott Parazynski: NASA astronaut on board of directors raved about $250K trip 12,500ft below the surface on sub to view Titanic
Scott Parazynski is one of six directors of OceanGate,and is a former NASA astronaut who has been to space multiple times.
The a highly decorated physician and best-selling author joined the Titanic Survey Expedition in 2021 and boasted about the experience.
'It's tougher to go to the bottom of the ocean than it is to the far side of the moon,' Parazynski said. 'We saw thing that maybe human eyes have never seen before.'
Parazynski was featured on the promotional video for OceanGate Expeditions among other guests and crew members who gushed about the $250,000 experience that descends 12,500ft into the Atlantic Ocean.
Parazynski, who has crewed five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, joined the Titanic Survey Expedition in 2021
Parazynski said that the experience is a very well engineered and very safe but and the team is very focused on safety first'
Parazynski, who has crewed five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, earned his Level 1 submersible pilot credentials during his previous work with OceanGate Expeditions and jumped at the chance to journey to the bottom of the sea.
'Every time you take to the sea, you know there's so many things that have to go right,' he said on the video.
'All the electrical systems and navigation systems that have to check out this is a very complex vehicle.'
'It is a very well engineered and very safe but and the team is very focused on safety first,' he continued.
In 1992 he was selected to join NASA's Astronaut Corps and led the first joint US-Russian spacewalk while docked to the Russian space station Mir; serving as Senator John Glenn's crewmate and 'personal physician'; and assembly of the Canadian-built space station robotic arm.
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