In March 2017, Petersburger Alexander Krasnikov set off for Antarctica to work as a system manager. His rotation at Russia’s Novolazarevskaya research station will last a full year. The website Bumaga recently published a story about Krasnikov’s preparations for his expedition and about his life now in Antarctica.
Krasnikov writes that he always dreamed of becoming a cosmonaut or a polar explorer. A couple of years ago, he says he submitted his résumé to the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in response to a system administrator vacancy at the Antarctic station. The position was ultimately filled, but the institute called him back in 2016 and invited him for an interview.
After he landed the job, Krasnikov spent two months preparing for the expedition. Before he set foot in Antarctica, he needed to pass both a medical exam and a training course. He was also required to get certified as an able seaman, though he says nobody taught him about everyday polar living conditions. Krasnikov says the medical board’s screening process was especially strict: “If you didn’t serve in the army or if you had even the slightest health issues, you had no chance.”
The adventurer system manager flew to South Africa through Saudi Arabia, and then boarded the “Akademik Fyodorov,” the flagship of the Russian polar research fleet, which delivered him to the shores of Antarctica. From there, he reached the Novolazarevskaya station by helicopter. The institute compensated him for all visa and travel expenses. His return trip to St. Petersburg will be entirely by sea, aboard the “Akademik Tryoshnikov.”
There are 29 people — all men — stationed at Novolazarevskaya. They occupy four residential buildings, with each man getting his own 70-
square-foot cabin. Krasnikov says the station’s system manager doesn’t have much work to do, especially during the winter. Members of the expedition can watch movies, play pool and ping pong, and surf the Internet (though the connection is painfully slow).
Midday on a polar night
62 Antarctic Expedition
“It’s winter now, but the weather is relatively nice. The polar night temperature ranges from -30 to -25 degrees Celsius [-22 to -13 degrees Fahrenheit],” Krasnikov says, adding that there are no animals are plant life near the station. There aren’t any microbes, either, which means that nobody at the station gets sick during the winter, when there aren’t any tourists.
At the station, we’re in greater isolation than on a spaceship. If something happens here, there is no way to get out of here before November, when the airfield reopens, no matter how much money you have. If something happens, this is where you’ll die.