The new South Pole station let's you easily forget that you are at the end of the World. With good food, a gym, a science lab, conference rooms as well as game and video rooms you find here more facilities and amenities than in many other experimental locations I have worked at. But sometime Nature tells you that it is still in control down here. Everything depends on the weather cooperating and equipment not failing in the harsh conditions.
Yesterday the satellite connection failed and we lost internet connection. There is nothing one can do about it. And there is no coffee shop around the corner to help you get your webfix. You are just disconnected from the world. Life is confined to the events on the Station. While there is an Iridium link for emergency phone calls, on days like yesterday life on the station is quite isolated.
Several flights were planned for yesterday. The first flight had to "boomerang" after it had flown 3hrs from McMurdo to the Pole. The landing skis didn't deploy. The plane circled for about 15 min above the Pole and then made a decision to return to MCM. On the Pegasus airfield at MCM the plan can use its wheels to land on the compressed and hardened runway.
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