Unless you are a tourist on a ship with a scheduled stop at McMurdo, your only ticket there is a job.
Once your employment is secure, and you have passed rigorous physical and mental exams, your departure to the ice begins at your orientation site, say Denver, Colorado, and you fly through Los Angeles, Honolulu, Auckland, New Zealand and lay over in Christchurch, New Zealand.
There you are outfitted with extreme cold weather gear and you board a US Military aircraft to fly the remaining 4,000 KMs to McMurdo.
The coordinates for McMurdo Station in Antarctica are 77.8500° S, 166.6667° E.
McMurdo Station is 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.
McMurdo is not a colony. McMurdo is a science research station developed by the United States of America.
McMurdo Station in Antarctica covers an area of approximately 252.4 hectares (623 acres) in size. It is the largest research station in Antarctica and can accommodate up to 1,258 individuals in the summer months.
McMurdo Station in Antarctica is supported by the United States of America through its National Science Foundation. All of Antarctica is managed by the Antarctic Treaty.
McMurdo Dry Valley, Antarctica
You can find McMurdo Station using GPS coordinates 77°51′S 166°40′E.
The McMurdo Antarctica station was opened in by the United States in 1956. It had been used previously under different names by British explorers. The temperature is rarely above freezing.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys lie across McMurdo Sound from the McMurdo Research Station, and are areas devoid of ice. This landscape has been compared to the surface of the planet Mars.
14271 Kilometers or 8868 Miles
McMurdo station in Antarctica is supported by the United States. However, many other countries leverage the resources there to support their science, too. These other countries include New Zealand, Russia, Italy and more.
McMurdo station covers nearly 4 sq km (1.5 sq mi) and accommodates 1200 people in summer and 200 in winter.