EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A University of Rhode Island oceanographer who is credited with finding the wreckage of the Titanic in the 1980s has set his sights on another historic challenge.

Researcher Robert Ballard hopes to discover Amelia Earhart’s missing plane from 82 years ago, according to nautiluslive.org

Ballard is currently traveling on the Exploration Vessel Nautilus in an area 2,600 miles north of New Zealand, believed to be the area where people reportedly heard strange radio transmissions in the days the plane disappeared in July 1937.

Ballard said he is confident he – and a crew of experts – will find the missing plane and added he expects to find it on Aug. 12. He said they’re looking for the plane, where Earhart may have camped and possibly her remains.

“I have always been intrigued by the story of Amelia Earhart because she shocked the world doing what everyone thought was impossible, much like what I have attempted to do my entire career as a deep-sea explorer. Also, like Amelia, I was born in Kansas, so it is only appropriate that a Kansan solves this riddle,” Ballard said. “We have an incredible team in place of experts, scientists and explorers who are working diligently to map out this ambitious expedition. Using state-of-the-art technology and decades of evidence collected in regard to her disappearance, I would say we have a real shot at rewriting history by solving one of the greatest mysteries of our time.”