The rescue of 33 Chilean miners, is underway.  The men, trapped for 69 days half a mile undergound, are supposed to start coming out soon.

The missile-like capsule that will carry 33 miners to fresh air and freedom was lowered into a nearly half-mile-long rescue tunnel Tuesday night. Steam rushed from the hole into the frigid desert air — a sign of the humid, sauna-like conditions the men have endured for 69 days.

It’ll be one of the great rescues in history:

The rescue attempt is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration during the Clinton administration. A miner could get claustrophobic and do something that damages the capsule. Or a rock could fall and wedge it in the shaft. Or the cable could get hung up. Or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.

“You can be good and you can be lucky. And they’ve been good and lucky,” McAteer told the AP. “Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours.”

Prayers, invocations of karma, or best wishes of whatever kind you prefer are all pretty much required here.

Video from the scene.  As this is written, it looks like the capsule is being pulled up.

9:06 – looks like the capsule is near the surface – wow, there is is.  Looks like a tight fit, in the tunnel and inside the cage.   Empty – must have been the dry run.

9:09 – they’re loading up Manuel Gonzales Pavez, the mine rescue expert.

Pavez

It looks like the President Echenique of Chile was giving him a pep talk.  There was a loud cheer…followed by more waiting.

9:19 – and Pavez is on his way.

9:30 – Group at the shaft head is singing songs to pass the time.  Accoridng to the schedule, Pavez should be half way down.

9:36 – Video from the mineshaft.

Courtesy ABC/Chilean State TV

9:51 – the capsule is loaded and ready to haul up.

Capsuled hauled up just before midnight, Chilean time.

10:11 – The first miner makes it to the surface.  His son and wife were there to meet him; the boy – sixish – burst into tears as he ran to meet him.

The first miner out.

32 to go.

10:16 – Roberto Rios Seguel, a Chilean Navy special forces medic, is going to go down in the next car to help triage the men below.

Seguel

10:41 – Seguel arrives 2,000 feet below the surface.

Chilean Navy medic Seguel arrives in the mine.

11:08 – Mario Sepulveda is getting near the surface:

Wife of Mario Sepulveda

11:10 – Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to get out, is on the surface.

Mario Sepulveda sees the first air in over two months.