The Deepest Hole Made by Mankind and Its Silent Fall Into Oblivion
The cold war race to the middle of the Earth on the Kola Peninsula in the Soviet Union
69°23'46"N 30°36'32"E.
The coordinates direct to an abandoned complex left to decay, in the middle of nowhere on the Russian Kola peninsula close to the border of Norway. No road leads today to this site. The main object of interest is a nondescript and rusty cover plate of about half a meter diameter with 12 colossal screws sealed.
The race to the Earth’s interior begins
In 1957, Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched the Soviet Union and the U.S space race. The whole world focused on this battle to conquer space.
At the same time, less known and out of focus, the race to the Earth’s interior began. The goal was drilling through the Earth’s crust to the Earth’s mantle. Nobody knew what had to be expected. At its end, the world’s deepest manmade hole was drilled into a depth of 12’262 meters (40’230 feet).
That’s deeper than the deepest point in the Ocean, the Mariana Trench, with 10’984 meters (36,037 feet) and 1.43 times the height of Mount Everest.
