From CNN's Adam Reiss
Editor's note: Watch CNN TV this week for
exclusive coverage of James Cameron's final test dives before his
attempt to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.Oscar winning director James Cameron, known for breaking box office records, is now aiming for underwater dominance.
The filmmaker, who's better known for his blockbuster hits such as "Titanic," is taking the dive of his life into the deepest waters in the world. He's in a race with two other men - billionaire businessman and adventurer Richard Branson and an experienced submarine pilot - to reach the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the world's oceans. It's part of the Mariana Trench near Guam in the western Pacific.
At more than 10,900 meters (35,800 feet), the Mariana Trench is deeper than Mount Everest is tall, and has had only two previous human visitors. In 1960, U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and the late Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard descended into the deep in the bathyscaphe Trieste.