If anything goes wrong, at best some valuable data could be lost. At worst, the fish could hit the bottom. Even when the vehicles are up, the members of the DSL group are under pressure. When time allows, they must disassemble each vehicle and make sure every part works. If they miss a detail, and something goes wrong while the vehicle is 4,000 meters deep, all data collecting must stop.
Time is valuable on a research cruise.
The time spent hauling up and repairing a vehicle cannot be recovered. Will Sellers recover the DSL 120. Will Sellers joined the DSL group in 1981. Like everybody else in the DSL group, he is looking forward to the end of this voyage so he can go home, get some home-cooked meals, and check on the new house he and his wife are building. Yet he doesn't hesitate to emphasize that each member of the DSL group is on board because he wants to be.