MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th November, 2022) A transport plane has made a maiden landing on a new ice runway built at the Progress Russian research station in Antarctica, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute said Tuesday.
"It is a really historic event that will largely change the work of the entire Russian Antarctic expedition. The new runway will allow for seasonal work to start much earlier," the institute's director, Alexander Makarov, said.
The landing took place on Monday. The Ilyushin Il-76 strategic airlifter flew from Cape Town in South Africa to Progress, the main support station of Vostok research station, carrying a new expedition crew. Makarov said the new runway would speed up the assembly of a new wintering complex at Vostok.
