NPX

Finally made it to Pole early this afternoon. It is always a rush to get off the C-130 and smell and hear and see this place. There is something very special about this desolate piece of nowhere.

My room is in the new station, a very cosy cubbyhole similar to last year's. I went out to the Dark Sector right away and made progress with our communications issues - with luck tomorrow I'll have the problem licked.

My challenge now is getting used to the altitude and getting onto night shift so I can work when the satellite's up.

The team here deployed the thirteenth string of the season just before we arrived. Congratulations to everyone on the summer team, and to Eden for picking the correct number of strings two seasons in a row!!!

I have lots of cool photos from the trip, but until I get them posted, here is one courtesy of and © Mark Krasberg: the plane we came in on, as it taxied towards the station.