Traversing the Space Between

The day you are scheduled to leave is a pretty hectic day. I was scheduled to fly out on a C-17 on November 11th, but I did not know the time until the C-17 left Christchurch, New Zealand to head to McMurdo. I had expected a ride to the airfield around 2:30pm, but we didn't end up boarding until 7pm that night. It was a long process, but I did get out. Got to my hotel at 2:30am on the same day I'm flying back to Houston.  Here's some steps on what it looks like to leave McMurdo. First you have to pack, clean out your room, and put all your linens/towels in a bag for laundry to pick up. Here's my room. Yes, that's aluminum foil on the window to help keep the sunlight out. Those windows did not have good insulation and dirt and wind would whip through the edges.  Here's my last view of McMurdo as I'm transported to the airfield at 3:30pm.  Here's the passenger terminal when you arrive at the airfield. There's no bathroom inside, but there is an outhous

After Black Island and Marble Point, we went further into the Dry Valleys to see deep field camps. These are places scientists and grantees go to do their research. We went to a few lakes: Lake Fryxell, Lake Hoare, and Lake Bonney. Unfortunately, we only had time to stop at one, and flew over the other two.  The views continued to be just breathtaking as we flew. I took so many photos, but had to dial it back for posting.  These are some of the researchers at Lake Fryxell as we flew over. Very few solid structures, and they live in tents. BRRR!!! We did get to stop at Lake Hoare. I was really surprised to see full up science labs out there. There are 3 science labs, a community building with the kitchen, and a bathroom. There are two personnel that live here full time, and they live in tents. The scientists will come shortly for their studies.   Here's one of the labs: Inside view from one of the labs: Communal kitchen... and guess what they served us.... yep, cookies! Well, the gu

I had several helicopter flights scheduled during the time I had COVID, so I had to make up for lost time quickly in my last days at McMurdo. I had a helicopter ride scheduled for Monday, but the weather was bad, and then Tuesday, but the weather was bad again, and on my last full day in McMurdo everything aligned, and I was able to ride out to see what this is all really about...quintessential Antarctica and supporting science. What an amazing way to end my tour. My co-worker, Marc and I got to go on the ride together. Marc is a former Marine Corps and Coast Guard helicopter pilot, so he was kind enough to let me sit in the front seat for my first helicopter ride in Antarctica.  We passed over the buried Pegasus plane that you can still see the tail sticking out of the snow.  Our first stop from McMurdo was to Black Island. This is where we have a satellite receiver that was the only one before we built the RIES (Ross Island Earth Satellite) last year. Black Island is able to point to