The commander of the first drifting station, North Pole 1, was Ivan Papanin. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his successful research activity and his effective management of the station.
In 1596, Dutch researcher and seafarer Willem Barents discovered the islands of the Spitsbergen Archipelago. He called the main island “Spitsbergen” which means “pointed mountains.”
The first successful intercontinental flight via the North Pole was made by Soviet pilot Valery Chkalov. On June 18, 1937, he took off from Moscow aboard an ANT-25 plane and on June 20 landed in Vancouver.
On August 2, 2007, two Russian deep-water submersibles – Mir-1 under the command of Anatoly Sagalevich and Mir-2 under the command of Yevgeny Chernyaev – for the first time dived to the ocean floor under the North Pole.
The first solo, unassisted journey to the North Pole without technical facilities or external food supplies was made by Norwegian polar researcher Borge Ousland in 1994.
Explorer Mike Horn traveled to the Arctic but the first solo, unassisted journey to the North Pole was made by Norwegian polar researcher Borge Ousland.
Who was the first to land an airplane on the North Pole?
Mikhail Vodopyanov
Valery Chkalov
Richard Byrd
Yevgeny Fyodorov
Soviet air pilot Mikhail Vodopyanov was the first to land on ice near the North Pole on May 21, 1937. His plane, ANT-6, brought a winter crew to the first drifting station, North Pole.