Georgia Institute of Technology

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 — McMurdo Station, 4:00 p.m.

Tue, 12/07/2010 - 4:00pm

We landed at McMurdo Station at 2:00 p.m. after a five-hour flight. The length of the flight due south of New Zealand gives you some idea of just how far south we really are. We got off the plane and the first thing that hit me is that the scenery is just spectacular, and everywhere it is cold — minus-5 degrees Celsius — and very bright as the sun is shining. We hand-carried our survival bag (we are actually wearing about half of the clothes in it) and headed to our housing assignment to prepare for a review of our itinerary and briefing at 3:00 p.m. From there we took a “windshield tour” of the McMurdo Station. There are about 1,000 – 1,200 people here in the summer and only about 150-200 in the winter. Then we are off to dinner. After dinner we had another meeting and then they gave us some time to look around and do some e-mail and write postcards, which is what I am headed to do now so that I can mail them from the South Pole Station tomorrow.