The first of Chile's 33 trapped miners are set to travel nearly half a mile through solid rock in a narrow, elevator-like shaft Tuesday, as their two month ordeal after a cave-in hopefully comes to a conclusion.
NBC News' Kerry Sanders is on the scene outside the San Jose mine in Copiapo, Chile and responded to readers questions about the miners' escape.
Questions like: "Can the miners get the 'bends' on the trip up?," "What is the worst case scenario?," "Who is the person who will go down initially to help the miners begin the ascent to the top?," and "What are those special socks for?"
Read Kerry's answers below to learn more about how the miners extraction is expected to happen.