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 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)

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) is shot by would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peter's Square, 13th May 1981. His attendants help him into his white jeep after the incident. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Two women in traditional kimonos wear face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus as they visit the Sensoji temple in Tokyo on Friday, August 7, 2020. (Photo by Hiro Komae/AP Photo)

Noah, 10, cools himself off in his garden during hot weather in Hertford, Britain, June 25, 2020. The UK is experiencing a summer heatwave, with temperatures in many parts of the country expected to rise above 30°C and weather warnings in place for thunderstorms at the end of the week. (Photo by Andrew Couldridge/Reuters)

Ballet dancer Anoushka Zoe James dances in the water at the Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 29, 2020. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Japan Agricultural Cooperation Kagawa employees arrange cubic watermelons to be shipped within the country, in Zentsuji city, Kagawa prefecture, western Japan, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. The about 18x18x18-centimeter (7x7x7-inch) square watermelons, grown in transparent square containers, will be sold for about 10,000 yen ($94) each. (Photo ny Maiko Hirai/Kyodo News via AP Photo)

An aspiring Catholic priest Jose Luis Guerra, a member of Raza Nueva in Christ, a project of the archdiocese of Monterrey, and other missionaries hand out a Bible to Angel Castillo, who wants to become a missionary with Raza Nueva, in the municipality of Garcia, outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico, July 12, 2016. In the troubled fringes of the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, an aspiring priest is using his faith to reach out to young gang members and at-risk youth, and bring them into his “Gang of Christ”. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)