- Source: CNN " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/181024132613-24-time-warner-center-1024.jpg?q=x_298,y_182,h_1787,w_3176,c_crop/h_540,w_960" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/181024132613-24-time-warner-center-1024.jpg?q=x_298,y_182,h_1787,w_3176,c_crop/h_540,w_960" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html=" The Lead " data-byline-html="
" data-timestamp-html="
Updated 10:00 PM EDT, Wed October 24, 2018
" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2018-10-24T21:48:47Z" data-video-section="politics" data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/10/24/suspicious-packages-wrap-marquez-lead-pkg-vpx.cnn" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="suspicious packages wrap marquez lead pkg vpx" data-first-publish-slug="suspicious packages wrap marquez lead pkg vpx" data-video-tags="2018 political package bombs,bomb threats,bombs and explosive devices,business figures,crime, law enforcement and corrections,criminal offenses,domestic terrorism,george soros,hillary clinton,international relations and national security,john brennan,miguel marquez,misc people,national security,political figures - us,terrorism,terrorism and counter-terrorism,terrorist attacks,unrest, conflicts and war,weapons and arms" data-details="">
Members of the New York Police Department are pictured outside the Time Warner Center in the Manhattan borough of New York City after a suspicious package was found inside the CNN Headquarters in New York, October 24, 2018.
Bombs sent to politicians in 'act of terror'
02:33 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

As police carefully extracted an apparent bomb from Time Warner Center – home of CNN’s New York offices – one image has spurred widespread curiosity.

New York police drive a total containment vessel away from Time Warner Center on Wednesday.
New York police drive a total containment vessel away from Time Warner Center on Wednesday.
Kevin Hagen/AP

What was that big white sphere that hauled the device away?

CNN producer Anna-Maja Rappard shot footage of the giant bubble getting backed into Time Warner Center.

The capsule is called a “total containment vessel.” Mark Torre, commanding officer of the NYPD bomb squad, said it’s like the opposite of a diving vessel.

“Instead of keeping the pressure out and keeping you alive in five fathoms of water, it keeps the pressure in,” Torre told The New York Times in 2016. If a bomb goes off inside, Torre said, small vents allow pressure to escape.

After a suspicious device is placed inside, the total containment vessel gets hauled away on the back of specially equipped flatbed truck.

Of course, the total containment vessel can’t do everything. Real police officers still have to carefully enter the building.

Dr. Erin Olivio, a psychologist who was told to shelter in place near Time Warner Center, captured footage of a heavily suited NYPD officer going inside.

In all, NYPD has three total containment vessels, 16 bomb-sniffing dogs, several robots and a team of 35 bomb squad members that rushes into “literally explosive situations.”

CNN’s Carma Hassan and Justin Lear contributed to this report.