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.

U.S. players push head coach Adam Krikorian into the pool after they defeated the Netherlands in their women's water polo gold medal match during the Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia, August 7, 2015. (Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters)

N.C. Dezendorf, wife of the general manager of the Electro-Motive division of General Motors, christens the new lightweight “Aerotrain” at the company's locomotive works in La Grange, Ill. on August 22, 1955. (Photo by Edward Kitch/AP Photo)

Indonesian students go to school via a makeshift suspension bridge in Ngemplak, Boyolali regency, Indonesia on November 15, 2017. The lack of access to roads makes students every day to cross the dangerous waterways to go to school. (Photo by Arief Setiadi/Pacific Press/Barcroft Images)

Passengers wearing protective masks travel on an over crowded train towards capital city, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 8, 2020. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Young women dance a group dance at the Palace Square in St.Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, September 24, 2020. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Farmers take a break for lunch while celebrating National Paddy Day, also called Asar Pandra, that marks the commencement of rice crop planting in paddy fields as monsoon season arrives, in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 29, 2020. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Car headlights illuminate a woman walking through city streets as snow accumulates on December 16, 2020 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Winter Storm Gail is expected to bring more than a foot of snow in parts of the Northeast. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)