McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.

An Iranian Shiite Muslim prays in Laylat al-Qadr, or the night of destiny, during holy fasting month of Ramadan after midnight, in central Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, June 18, 2017. Laylat al-Qadr is the night when Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to prophet Muhammad. Worshipers gather in religious ceremonies to pray, ask forgiveness and make wishes on one of the most important nights of the Islamic calendar. Shiite Muslims, the vast majority of Iranians, believe the night happens either on 19th, 21st or 23rd of the holy month of Ramadan. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Schoolchildren from local schools take part in the children's races prior to the annual Pancake race in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, Tuesday, February 25, 2020. Every year women clad in aprons and head scarves from Olney and the city of Liberal, in Kansas, USA, run their respective legs of the race with pancakes in their pans. According to legend, the Olney race started in 1445 when a harried housewife arrived at church on Shrove Tuesday still clutching her frying pan with a pancake in it. (Photo by Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

Cholita wrestlers stage a performance on the street during the Electropreste celebration, which combines traditional and modern customs, in La Paz, Bolivia on March 12, 2022. (Photo by Claudia Morales/Reuters)

People dressed as Adam and Barbara Maitland from “Beetlejuice” ride the subway after leaving New York Comic Con 2022 on October 08, 2022 in New York City. The four-day event, which began Thursday morning at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, is expected to attract over 200,000 comic, fantasy and pop culture fans from across the country and world. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Toyota's driver Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar (R) and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel of France compete during the prologue of the Dakar 2023 by the Red Sea in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, on December 31, 2022. Swedish driver Mattias Ekstrom and his co-driver Emil Bergkvist of Sweden won the prologue ahead of French driver Sebastien Loeb and Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

Members of contemporary circus group perform inside the subway train, amid the energy crisis in Prague, Czech Republic on March 2, 2023. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

A swimmer goes for a dip in freezing temperatures at the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, central London on December 1, 2023, as temperatures in the capital dip below zero for another night. The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for parts of the UK with freezing temperatures and snow expected in large areas. (Photo by Ben Cawthra/London News Pictures)