(From Matt Carluccio, TODAY producer)
We've arrived at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
The flight in was thrilling -- especially for the team members who were invited to sit in the cockpit on the approach into McMurdo. I'll leave it to Ann Curry to describe, and for viewers to watch the video (we'll be sure to include on November 5), but just imagine a fully-loaded cargo plane landing on 20-foot-thick sea ice. Amazing to me, but routine for the Operation Deep Freeze pilots from McChord Air Force Base who support McMurdo Station.
Our gracious hosts from the National Science Foundation greeted us and spent the better part of the day giving us a tour of "station," as the locals call it. McMurdo is the largest of the three U.S. research bases on Antarctica and it serves as the U.S. Antarctic Program's hub - basically, everyone comes through McMurdo. It is a unique place, to say the least.
While some might envision a camp of igloos and huts, McMurdo is actually a small and highly efficiently run town. Sitting on crusted volcanic rock along the frozen sound from which it gets its name, construction on McMurdo began in the 1950's by the U.S. Navy and it's progressed in some form ever since. Today, more than 60 buildings have dotted the area - some crude looking from the outside but all sufficient to house and work the 1,100 scientists and staff who come here for the summer season which starts in October and last until February.
As we drove around and met many of the people who keep this place running despite its remoteness and the constant extreme conditions, I couldn't help but be reminded of the television show "Northern Exposure." People walk along the icy streets bundled up in large red-hooded parkas (issued to all and known as "big reds"), waving to vehicles who creep by -- the speed limit all around McMurdo is 15mphs.
We've not been here 24 hours so I'm sure I'll learn much, much more about this singular community on earth…but not until after a much-needed night of sleep for all of us. I know we're all anxious to do just that. We’ll also be making a trip to the South Pole, flyover an active volcano and we have a date with some penguins.
Learn more about TODAY's Ends of the Earth event.
To ask Ann Curry and the TODAY team in Antarctica a question, click here.