Nat Geo to air James Cameron dive footage

Nat Geo to air James Cameron dive footage

We're going to get a first look at the footage James Cameron shot when he made his historic one-man dive last month to the Mariana Trench's spot known as Challenger Deep, 6.8 miles beneath the surface, the ocean's deepest spot.

National Geographic Channel announced today it will premiere a new half-hour special, James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth, on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Culled from more than two hours of Cameron's firsthand accounts, the show details everything from more than seven years of development to the actual moment he touched the bottom of the Earth.

"I was watching the numbers going deeper," the filmmaker recalls. "The sub slows down as you get to the target depth. There is a long moment of getting to think about it. Then you have to get busy. You have less than a thousand feet from the bottom, you fine-tune the ballast, adjust the camera, turn up the spotlight. As the altimeter counted, I saw the glow of the bottom!" the filmmaker recalls.

What happened once he got down there and was feeling isolated and remote and cut off from the world? "My wife calls."

The special repeats at 9:30 p.m. Sunday and on May 3 at 9 and 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.