High-technology solutions and advanced applications are imperative for the maritime, oil and gas, defence and space industry. In this issue of The Full Picture we fly you high and take you low into the most extreme environments known to mankind. Our cover story on page 22 gives you a glimpse into the extremes of Christian Fuglesang. The 56 year-old Swedish astronaut has conducted two space shuttle missions, carried out five spacewalks and travelled more than 10 million miles with NASA. Sverre Gylseth, (page 30) a former saturation diver who now works as a Principle Surveyor for Det Norske Veritas (DNV), knows all about trust and reliability. Commercial diving requires a level of trust in personnel and equipment that may only be familiar to astronauts, trapeze artists and tandem skydivers. In some ways, divers are a bit like astronauts performing spacewalks, although astronauts don’t run into large fish with big teeth. Though the ocean deeps remain prohibitive to human presence, the oil industry has managed to find solutions to conquer this hostile environment. On page 18 Odfjell Drilling talks about its sixth generation semi-submersibles and Saipem (page 36) about the extreme challenges of going deeper with the industry’s biggest pipe-laying ship. Offshore’s harsh-weather-exposed production and transport sector is suitable only for the brave. Pages 46 to 57 give an inside glimpse into the operations of leading players Østensjø, Atlantic Offshore and Farstad. Maintenance and repair work demands highly modern fleets, unique skills and client collaboration. The operations of Eidesvik Offshore (page 60) and Rem Offshore (page 64) reveal amazing solutions to extreme challenges. Articles in The Full Picture tell a tale of an extraordinary industrial adventure. It makes for good reading, and we trust that this magazine will leave you with many good experiences