Kaiko's first successful trip to the bottom of the trench was on March 24, 1995. After it made contact with the ocean floor. it planted a simple plaque : "Kaiko 1995.3.24." The robot took a few samples of bottom sand. Then it rose slightly to take some water samples. After about two hours, Kaiko went back to the mother ship and then went home.
Kaiko brought back amazing information. More than 180 living things were in its sample containers. As scientists had expected, the animals and plants Kaiko collected were extremely small. The submarine's cameras, however, told a surprising story. They sent back pictures of much larger living things like a shrimp, a worm, and a sea cucumber. Scientists had never expected to find such complex life so deep in the ocean.