Passengers disembark from an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at the Annual Sea Ice Runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The C-17 is operated by the men and women of 446th and 62nd Airlift Wings, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. The first main body flights of the 2011-2012 austral summer season arrived at McMurdo on Oct. 4, 2011. (National Science Foundation photo by Jean Varner)