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.

MiG-15 jet fighters are pictured in Kucova Air Base in Kucova, Albania on October 3, 2018. Albania retired its 224 Soviet- and Chinese-made MiGs in 2005, and since 2009 NATO neighbors Italy and Greece monitor its airspace. That led to economic decline in and around Kucova, which was called “Stalin City” during the era of Communist rule. (Photo by Florion Goga/Reuters)

Sniper of the 1st brigade of National Guard "Bureviy' takes part in a military training in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on July 9, 2024. Ukrainian snipers are highly trained and capable of causing damage, and are therefore a priority target for Russian troops. Their frontline tasks include shooting down soldiers at Russian observation posts, providing observation to assist artillery fire, and stopping Russian waves when they attack. (Photo by Pablo Miranzo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A boatman rests on his boat in the flooded Ganges river under the Shastri bridge at Daraganj Ghat, in Allahabad, India on August 22, 2019. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

This photo provided by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office shows a man who was possibly trying to burglarize an abandoned Chinese restaurant in San Lorenzo, Calif., trapped in a grease vent before he was rescued Wednesday, December 12, 2018. Officials say he had been trapped for two days. Deputies and firefighters were called to the vacant building on Wednesday after someone heard cries for help. The sheriff tweeted that the man was trespassing and possibly trying to burglarize the empty restaurant. (Photo by Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP Photo)

A group of riders splash down a water slide in Bromont, Que on Monday, June 29, 2020 as water parks reopen in the province of Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Canadian Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Elementary school sumo wrestlers compete in the sumo ring during the Wanpaku sumo-wrestling tournament in Tokyo, Japan July 30, 2017. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Staff take no chances at a dog-grooming salon in Rotterdam in the second decade of June 2023. (Photo by RUT/Splash News and Pictures)