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.

A BASE jumper is pictured against the skyline shrouded in a thick haze during the Kuala Lumpur Tower International Jump in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 02 October 2015. More than 100 BASE jumpers take part in this extreme sport event, which enters its 15th year. The haze hovering over Malaysia is caused by the ongoing plantation and forest fires in the nearby Indonesian provinces of Sumatra and Kalimantan. (Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA)

An unmanned Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Wednesday, February 11, 2015, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. On board is the Deep Space Climate Observatory, which will head toward a solar-storm lookout point a million miles away. (Photo by John Raoux/AP Photo)

Two keepers at the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales struggle with Leonardo, an alligator snapping turtle weighing 45 kilos at the park in Gosford, NSW 2 July 2015. The 50cm long Leonardo – who was smuggled illegally into Australia and found in a Sydney sewer in November 2000 – was removed from his tank for an annual health check. And as a gesture to onlooking press photographers demonstrated his strength by snapping a piece of bamboo in half. (Photo by EPA/HO)

Aldi SugandaRizal (2 years-old) smoking a cigarette while playing at the family home in Sekayu district, South Sumatera, Indonesia on May 23, 2010. (Photo by Ardiles Rante/Barcroft Media)

This picture taken on July 25, 2014 shows people cooling off in a waterpark in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan province. Meteorological departments issued an orange alert for high temperature as a heat wave embraces Sichuan province, with temperature of most area topped 37, local media reported. (Photo by AFP Photo)

“NASA's Mars rover Opportunity just celebrated its ninth anniversary on Mars – a mission that was originally meant to last just 90 days...” – The Atlantic. Photo: NASA's rover Opportunity visits Victoria Crater, viewed from orbit by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in october of 2006. Opportunity is a small dot on the crater's lip, at top right. Opportunity first reached the crater's rim on September 27, 2006. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona via The Atlantic)