“It was impossible to get to us”: 40 years ago, a fire broke out at the Vostok Antarctic station in the midst of wintering

"Antarctica doesn't forgive jokes"

- Arkady Leonidovich, let's start with the question: what brought you to one of the most severe places on our planet - the Antarctic station "Vostok"? 

– On that expedition, I was a research doctor, involved in the assessment and prediction of human resistance to hypoxia, that is, to a low oxygen content in the body.

Numerous studies conducted by me earlier made it possible to establish that the human body can have different levels of resistance to hypoxia.

With high stability, a person is less susceptible to the influence of mountain sickness, which means that he can fully work in extreme conditions.

With low stability, the situation is reversed, and a person, despite training and experience, may face serious problems.

Before that, I had done a lot of research in the mountains, but the Vostok World Pole of Cold, located at an altitude of almost 3500 m, was the best suited for testing the method of initial resistance to hypoxia that I developed.

Before leaving for Antarctica, back in Leningrad, I studied the participants of the 27th Soviet Antarctic Expedition (SAE) and, based on my methodology, made a prediction of which of them were more likely to develop altitude sickness.

- As I understand it, when arriving at Vostok, even experienced polar explorers need to adapt? 

- Yes.

It's hard for everyone at first.

Walk slowly, try not to lift heavy things.

You lie down a lot.

If possible, the old shift insures the new arrivals.

A person should avoid physical activity for at least three days.

The air in the "East" is ten times drier than in the center of the Sahara.

You lose moisture from the pulmonary alveoli, and this seriously impedes the transfer of oxygen to the blood.

Instantly dries everything in the throat, in the nose.

This triad - dryness, low temperatures and hypoxia - cannot be saved.

Add to this the strongest pressure drops, wind, radiation coming from space with high-energy charged particles, from which the Earth's magnetic field is very weakly protected.

And in such conditions we spent a whole year at the station.

• Arkady Maksimov against the backdrop of the aerology building in the Antarctic summer - in January

• © Arkady Maksimov

- Before proceeding directly to the events related to the fire at the diesel power plant (DPP) on the night of April 12, 1982, tell us what happened before that.

As I understand it, that wintering, which started at the beginning of 1982, was not easy right away?

- Yes.

Two polar explorers had serious health problems - the same mountain sickness.

Moreover, this happened precisely with those whom I pointed out in my forecast before the start of the expedition as those most at risk of hypoxia.

Plus, both guys in the "Vostok" had serious physical exertion, besides, they both gave in, that is, they violated the regime.

As a result, this led to pulmonary edema, which almost ended in death.

-

- Yes, it reduces functional reserves and, most importantly, dulls a person's sense of danger.

For example, the first case, Yuri, celebrated February 23 too violently.

He already believed that he had adapted after a month of staying at Vostok and, after drinking, went outside to smoke in an ordinary leather jacket at a temperature of about -50 ° C.

He sat on the porch - and at night he came to us, doctors, with complaints that it was very difficult for him to breathe.

According to exactly the same pattern, everything happened with Mikhail, but only after the celebration of March 8th.

Here they were literally one to one.

- But after all, it would be possible to go out for a smoke in a sober state?

- No, if they were sober, they would not sit on the street for these 15 minutes, but would smoke indoors.

Alcohol reduces the critical barrier of perception, a person does not quite adequately assess the environment, and hypoxia is already beginning to act.

Antarctica does not forgive jokes.

How does mountain sickness develop?

- Lack of oxygen and low temperature lead to the first symptoms: a person suffocates, begins to wheeze, and then everything develops very rapidly.

If measures are not taken in time (and in the conditions of the Vostok, this is only an urgent descent to the coastal station), then a person may die.

In high altitude conditions, it is almost impossible to cure the onset of acute mountain sickness, which turned into pulmonary edema.

In addition to the emergency descent, another way to at least buy time is to use a mobile hyperbaric chamber.

With its help and in the presence of oxygen, you can support a person for some time.

• View of the station "Vostok" before the fire in the period of the 25th-27th SAE.

  From left to right: drilling headframe tower, monument to the ATT tractor (the first to reach the South Geomagnetic Pole), diesel power station building, wardroom building, aerology building, behind which is visible part of the science building, where laboratories and a radio station are located

• © Arkady Maksimov

How were the sick

rescued

- There were no problems with the first one.

The end of February, according to the temperature regime, still makes it possible to fly to the Vostok, and Yura was evacuated.

But with Michael there were problems.

- Why?

- In March, the temperature in Vostok fell below -60 °C.

This is a border mark for aviation - at a lower temperature, the plane could not fly to us.

The situation was very difficult.

I understood that without evacuation and after the small supply of oxygen available at the station runs out, we will not save him.

I immediately told the head of the station, Pyotr Astakhov, about this, but at first he was gently sent.

The main summer season in Antarctica was over, the planes were already at the Molodyozhnaya station, their crews were sitting on the ships, preparing to sail home.

And he told us (in addition to me, there was also a surgeon and a therapist at the station) to treat the patient ourselves, since evacuation was no longer possible.

Did two other doctors support your point of view?

- In medical schools, the treatment of mountain sickness and its complications are practically not paid attention, and the guys in their clinical practice have not encountered this pathology before.

Even at the first case with Yuri, I explained to them that this is a beginning pulmonary edema and it needs to be actively treated immediately, but only evacuation can save.

They completely agreed with me.

In the situation with Mikhail, we already acted according to a well-established scheme, but we understood that we would not save the patient with treatment alone, evacuation to the coastal station was necessary, we convinced the chief of this.

Gradually Astakhov realized the danger of the situation.

Seeing that the patient's condition was rapidly deteriorating, and in order to relieve himself of responsibility to a certain extent in the event of death and failure to attempt evacuation, he agreed to send a telegram.

In it, we asked the pilots to respond, realizing that only they will make the final decision.

• A group of easterners waiting for the arrival and seeing off of the first plane after the fire

• © Arkady Maksimov

“No one has ever flown to Vostok in March”

- Did the plane arrive?

- Yes, the crew commander Evgeny Kravchenko, even if I'm not mistaken, was later awarded for this flight.

Before that, no one had ever flown to Vostok in March, and, naturally, the polar explorers did not assume that the plane would be able to complete this mission, but they really hoped for it.

- Why is it impossible to fly at temperatures below -60 ° C?

- According to its properties, snow becomes like sand, the ski chassis practically does not slip on it, which means that it is extremely difficult for an aircraft to gain takeoff speed on a small runway.

At the same time, the operation of all hydraulic systems at such low temperatures is unreliable.

When they flew to us from Molodyozhnaya, our temperature was -68 °C.

That is, the guys flew at their own peril and risk, landing in such conditions was not expected.

Arriving, they first dropped additional medicines, letters to us and had to drop a mobile pressure chamber hastily made by polar explorers from improvised means, but in the end it got stuck in the cargo hatch and did not succeed.

At that moment, our meteorologist from Estonia, Vello Park, continued to measure the temperature on the surface of the runway, which we had been preparing for a long time while waiting for the plane.

And so, just as the plane was circling over the Vostok, the temperature on the surface of the strip rose to about the threshold of -60 ° C.

- An amazing coincidence!

- How many degrees there were in fact, is no longer so important.

The situation for the pilots was very difficult psychologically: to fly away meant dooming the polar explorer to death, and if you landed, there was a big risk of not taking off.

Kravchenko, knowing Park well and paying tribute to his experience, understood that if he raised the temperature a little so that it was “suitable” for landing, then not much.

That is, he well understood that it could be a little lower than -60 ° C, but there was nowhere to go, a person’s life was at stake.

As a result, the pilots decided to take a chance and sat down.

— How was the evacuation of Mikhail?

- We, three doctors and a radio operator, quickly dragged him to the runway and loaded him onto the plane with great difficulty.

Fearing freezing to the strip, Kravchenko slowly rolled it without stopping, and we, with the stretcher at the limit of our strength, ran after us, trying to catch up.

Imagine what it's like to do it at -60 ° C and in the highlands.

In the end, Kravchenko stopped literally for a minute and we managed to pass the stretcher with the sick crew through the open hatch.

• Fireworks on mid-wintering day

• © Arkady Maksimov

But this was not the most dramatic moment of the evacuation, because the most difficult thing was to take off.

Acceleration was very difficult.

We already thought that it would not take off and that it would be a disaster.

But it was not in vain that we specially prepared the strip before arrival, like barge haulers dragging a made dragger along it, on which old mattresses soaked in kerosene and diesel fuel were burning.

Thus, we melted the snow so that a solid ice coating formed on the surface.

And this ultimately played a decisive role.

Almost touching the skis on the sastrugs, the plane was able to take off at the very last moment.

If the liftoff had occurred a few seconds later, it would have crashed.

But everything worked out, and in the end, Mikhail was saved.

"Our prayers have been answered"

- Let's go directly to the fire in the diesel power plant, which occurred on the night of April 12, 1982.

How did events develop?

— I was awakened by a diesel mechanic, who was the first to notice the fire.

He also ran into the house to the radio operators.

I remember when I woke up, looked out the window and saw a small corner of the fire, I also thought: “Why did you have to wake me up?

Why didn’t you quickly throw snow yourself?”

But it turned out that everything is much more serious.

First, an extension to the engine room of the DPP made of bakelite plywood caught fire, where the mechanics serving it lived.

And after 15 minutes, the fire spread to the DPP building itself.

When I approached, I saw that everything was on fire.

Did you try to extinguish?

Of course, but there was nothing we could do.

They tried to throw snow, but to no avail.

Fire extinguishers in such a frost, instead of foam, simply made a “puff” sound.

In fact, we were helped a lot by the wind, which suddenly changed direction.

In fact, he saved us.

- Why?

- Next to the DPP there was a fuel depot, dozens of barrels of fuel.

At first he blew in their direction, and in the midst of the fire it seemed that he would definitely get to them.

Without fuel, we no longer had a chance to survive, and we would not be talking to you.

But in the end, our prayers were heard, and at the last moment he blew in the other direction.

From the fire, the aluminum from which the DPP building was made melted and flowed like tears, and then quickly froze.

I have a piece of this oddly shaped aluminum as a keepsake.

• The height of the fire of a diesel power plant (DPP)

• © Arkady Maksimov

- It was you who managed to take the only two photographs of this fire?

- Yes.

I always went with a camera.

That is why I was able to film another fire at Vostok, which few people know about to this day.

Then, in December 1982, our drilling rig burned down.

Astakhov was afraid to report the fire to his superiors.

Fortunately, then it was possible to tear off this drilling rig with a powerful tractor and drag it away from the rest of the premises, including from the storage of cores, which were taken from the depths during the drilling of the glacier.

We did not yet know that the largest lake Vostok was located under it.

Cores contain unique information about the climate of our planet for tens of thousands of years.

If the fire had spread there, it would have been a colossal loss for science, many years of work of many people would have been lost.

And so the drilling rig calmly burned out to the side, no one was hurt, and they decided not to advertise the story.

In my recently published book, East in the Farthest South, I published the first photo of this second fire.

– The famous American film “The Thing”, which takes place at a remote Antarctic station, ends with the polar explorers watching their station burn down and realizing that after the fire goes out, they are doomed.

When you stood and looked at this fire, what feelings did you have in your soul?

- There was no panic.

When we saw that the fuel barrels would not explode, it was clear that we would solve the issue of heating.

We also understood that we would not be left without food either, part of it is already stored frozen.

I remember that Baranov, our therapist, told me then that he, apparently, would never see his child.

His wife gave birth when he had already sailed for Antarctica.

I then reassured him, said that everything would be fine.

Two of my medical colleagues were at Vostok for the first time, and this was my second time, so it was somehow easier for me.

The magnetologist Mikhail Gusev had an inadequate reaction.

He tried to climb into the window of a burning building, rushed to save the mechanic Alexei Karpenko, who died in the fire.

We had to almost force him to keep him from throwing himself into the fire.

The head of the drillers, Boris Moiseev, immediately began to think about how we would heat up.

He realized that it was necessary to make drip stoves that run on diesel fuel.

By the way, it was he who, thanks to his extensive experience of being in the Vostok and resourcefulness, quickly gained authority in the team and became our informal leader.

• Burial of Alexei Karpenko on Buromsky Island

• © Arkady Maksimov

“We decided to continue wintering”

What were your actions immediately after the fire?

“My colleagues and I decided that it’s enough to look at all this and we need to go save medicines, especially in ampoules, otherwise they will freeze and burst very soon.

We ran to the first-aid post and began to put medicines in pillowcases to take them to the wardroom.

It was decided first of all to heat the wardroom, they quickly installed the Alma-Ata kerosene stove, which was stored in one of the utility rooms, and Moiseev remembered this.

Soon it was launched, and, at the very least, it heated the wardroom.

In any case, unlike other rooms, the temperature there has ceased to fall.

In general, the drugs were saved.

In general, when busy with business, then somehow there is simply no time to worry and freak out.

Later, with the help of gas cylinders, we made a few more drip stoves and placed them in rooms where the first day, a group of four to six people slept.

True, there were very strong temperature drops vertically and horizontally.

For example, on the floor, feet in boots could freeze, and at the same time it was +28 ° C at head level and you had to take off your hat.

Or in the center, where the stove stands, it was also below +30 ° C, and near the adjacent wall it could be near zero.

- Is it true that you all decided not to inform your relatives about the fire at the station so as not to worry them?

- Yes, after Astakhov sent the first encrypted radiogram about the emergency.

Why encrypted?

- According to the then laws on troubles at Soviet stations, it was possible to report on the air only in a special cipher.

Then at the meeting we began to discuss the key issues of our future existence.

Well, they all decided together that it was necessary to continue the wintering: there is food, the heat is already running - we will spend the winter.

We decided that we were refusing outside help, that we would spend the winter and hold out until the sledge-caterpillar train arrived.

And as a result of this, it didn’t make much sense to disturb relatives in some way so that they were nervous.

• View from the roof of the house of science on the burnt diesel power plant: behind it is a drilling rig, on the right is a wardroom, on the left is a fuel storage

• © Arkady Maksimov

- And how did you manage to report an emergency at the station, because there was no electricity and the radio station could not work?

“We quickly managed to find an old diesel generator from a drilling rig that produced about 2 kW of electricity, which was enough for a radio transmitter.

Because if you miss the time to get in touch with the coast and the timing of the weather transmission, they understand that some kind of emergency has happened, and if another session is missed, it means something very serious.

Therefore, the first step was to urgently report what had happened to the mainland.

- Are there any algorithms in case the polar explorers from Vostok suddenly stop communicating in the midst of wintering?

- Not. 

Because everyone knows that nothing can be done.

In this regard, it is much easier to help even cosmonauts in trouble in orbit - you can send some kind of rescue mission there, come to the rescue, but it is simply impossible to get to us in the dead of winter to take someone out.

It will not work on the ground, because the Kharkivchanka tractors are not designed to operate at temperatures below -60 ° C and will break down on the road, and those people who will be on this campaign will simply die from the cold.

The plane will also not be able to land for the reasons I spoke about.

The maximum that can be done is to send a large Il-76 aircraft to fly around the station, visually see what is happening below, drop some materials and fly back to the coast.

Therefore, the situation with Mikhail, when they flew in for him at temperatures below -60 ° C, is the first and only one since 1957, when Vostok was opened.

"Everyone was in business"

How was life at the station after the fire?

“Gradually things got better.

The guys, under the guidance of the same Moiseev, a jack of all trades, managed to revive another old, decommissioned, but more powerful diesel generator, although it had been under snow in a cold storage warehouse for several years.

In fact, this is such a dump where all the junk is transferred when it is replaced at the station with something new.

We found a lot of useful things there, including thanks to outside help.

- Like this?

- After the fire in Leningrad, at the Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, old polar explorers gathered, wintering on the Vostok.

They began to remember who, what, when and where they threw it away.

What others did not need, in our situation could be very useful.

The guys in the radiograms wrote specifically: you go there, start digging so many meters away - and there you will find this and that.

We dig - and the truth is, everything is in place.

So, even being cut off from the whole world, at least at this level, we received help from colleagues.

- After the appearance of electricity, there were more opportunities?

— Yes, the scientific program has partially resumed.

Meteorologists, radio operators, drillers worked.

Everyone was in business, although due to the lack of a full-fledged energy supply, the work of aerologists was idle.

As a result, their chief, Ivan Kozorez, turned into a baker.

I made something like a bread processor from two pans and experimented.

At first it didn’t work out very well, but then the results got better.

Our chef also got used to the new conditions.

But in order to cook something, water was needed, and the attendants had to constantly cut pieces out of the snow, and then melt them.

There were no problems with the food itself.

Canned food, meat, fish, dried fruits - everything was preserved, alcohol was also transferred to heat, so we had a good diet, the losses in terms of food were insignificant.

Frozen vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage) also went into action. 

• Journalist Vasily Peskov interviews radio operator Pyotr Polyansky (left) and medical researcher Arkady Maksimov (right)

• © Arkady Maksimov

- Judging by the essay of the famous writer and journalist Vasily Peskov, one of the most memorable days of that winter was May 1, when you made a bath?

- Yes exactly.

For the first time, to be able to wash off this soot (and our diesel stoves smoked very much) is worth a lot.

And, of course, for me it is the most memorable in my entire life.

We then relaxed, celebrated the holiday in a human way.

In general, a bath not only at Vostok, but also at all polar stations is a special procedure, so there the days are counted from bath to bath.

It usually takes place once every ten days.

Split at the station

- How was the situation in the team?

Did common difficulties unite everyone?

— В том-то и дело, что не совсем. Как я уже упоминал, начальник экспедиции Пётр Астахов ещё до пожара, когда висела на волоске судьба Михаила, проявил себя не с лучшей стороны. Мягко говоря, не был он в восторге и от моих научных исследований, будучи единственным, кто отказался в них участвовать. Своим поведением в целом ряде эпизодов он настроил против себя и многих остальных. В конечном счёте коллектив станции раскололся.

— Кто-то из полярников поддержал Астахова?

— Да, группа коммунистов, всего их было у нас четверо. Доходило того, что они там сами с собой проводили закрытые партийные собрания. А мы в ответ устраивали открытые профсоюзные.

— Ничего себе!

— Были ещё три-четыре человека колеблющихся, которые примыкали то к одной, то к другой группе.

— А как это противостояние на практике проявлялось? Неужели были какие-то разборки, стычки?

— До такого не доходило, конечно. Все взрослые люди, и специально никто никому козни не строил. Тем более что оказалось, что Астахов привёз на станцию ружьё, и это нас в определенном роде напрягало. Хотя провоз в Антарктиду огнестрельного оружия запрещён, там нет хищных животных, как в Арктике.

— Зачем ему ружьё на «Востоке»?

— Это хороший вопрос. В Антарктиде защищаться не от кого. Оказалось, что он в Ленинграде увлекался стендовой стрельбой и, чтобы не растерять навыки, взял оружие с собой в экспедицию. Сначала он это всё скрывал, но когда начался конфликт, он нам его продемонстрировал. Это грубейшее нарушение. Получается, когда мы плыли в Антарктиду, он в каждой стране вводил местные власти в заблуждение, подставляя всю экспедицию: если бы ружьё вдруг нашли, был бы международный скандал.

• Вид станции «Мирный» с вертолета: на заднем плане дом аэрологии, правее его здание ДЭС с мастерскими
• © Аркадий Максимов

— Как же вы сосуществовали двумя группами?

— Фактически в ходе той зимовки Астахов нами не руководил. Он мог объявить, что сегодня аврал, все берём лопаты и чистим станцию от снега. Но у кого в тот момент была своя работа по программе, на его спонтанные команды особого внимания не обращали и занимались своим делом. При этом мы, медики, были против ничего не дающих физических работ на открытом воздухе при сверхнизких температурах, зная, что это чревато негативными последствиями. Нередко после такого аврала погода портилась, начиналась метель — и вся расчистка оказывалась под новыми сугробами. В итоге Астахов замыкался, сидел у себя в комнате, редко выходил к фильмам, которые мы смотрели вечерами после ужина.

— Ситуация, конечно, ненормальная.

— Да. Кстати, обычно начальники станций с медиками никогда не ссорятся, врачи — это особая каста. И если бы он не бодался с хирургом нашим, то, может, и палец на руке сохранил бы. Когда у него началось воспаление, то он очень долго не обращался за помощью, не хотел унижаться. Я видел, что у него забинтована рука, спросил как-то, что с ней, но он лишь огрызнулся, сказав, что сам вылечит. Ну лечи. В итоге, когда от боли он уже спать не мог, всё равно был вынужден обратиться, да только уже поздно было. В условиях гипоксии гнойные процессы идут быстро. Тогда мы всю станцию обесточили, чтобы сделать ему рентгеновский снимок, и убедились, что если палец не отрезать, то дальше всё перейдёт на кисть и её придётся ампутировать.

• Проведение операции начальнику станции Петру Астахову
• © Аркадий Максимов

— Неужели и это вас не примирило?

— Нет, более того, Астахов потом утверждал, что хирург ему специально отрезал палец, потому что не любил его, и хотел даже в суд подать на него. У Астахова порой происходили настоящие заскоки.

Как-то он решил, что инопланетяне посещают станцию, распорядился общаться друг с другом только шёпотом, чтобы они не услышали ничего. И такие вспышки у него случались постоянно.

«У нас было три микрогруппы»

— Правда ли, что в таких экстремальных условиях с длительной изоляцией в небольшом коллективе человеку психологически важно не остаться в одиночестве и обязательно обзавестись близким другом или компанией?

— Да, именно так. Нужен микродруг. В таких условиях часто формируются микрогруппы, которые тоже контактируют между собой. После того как закончились все трения по поводу того, кто с кем будет жить, у нас сформировались три микрогруппы. Первая — это буровики, вторая — это медики и примкнувшие к нам радисты, ну и третья — как раз та группа коммунистов вместе с поваром.

— «Восток» — одно из самых холодных мест на Земле, там была зафиксирована температура -89,2 °С. Мы хоть и живём в России, но представить себе такой мороз всё равно не получается...

— Да, это надо прочувствовать. Во время дежурств иногда приходилось выходить на улицу в самый лютый мороз. Как-то мы вместе с нашим радистом Валерием Головиным пошли за новым мешком сахара для кухни. Взяли волокушу — это кусок жести с привязанными верёвками, которую можно по снегу тащить. Отправились на склад холодного хранения, это метров 200 всего от кают-компании. На обратном пути прошли метров 50 — и чувствуем, что просто задыхаемся уже, не тянем. Кое-как дотащили всё-таки, занесли. А тут как раз приходит Велло Парк, который заявил, что сегодня температурный рекорд в нашу зимовку. Тогда мы и поняли, почему мы так задыхались, — там было под -87 °С.

В такой мороз замерзает всё. Лицо закрыто подшлемником, он тоже замерзает весь — дышать тяжело, так как из-за выдыхаемого воздуха образуется толстая корка льда.

• Пожар на буровом комплексе
• © Аркадий Максимов

— Когда вы покинули «Восток»?

— В самом начале января 1983 года. Первым авиабортом, который привёз несколько полярников во главе с новым начальником станции «Восток» в 28-й САЭ — легендарным зимовщиком Арнольдом Будрецким, а также начальника всей 27-й САЭ Николая Корнилова, который решил разобраться, что у нас произошло.

— Был какой-то «разбор полётов»?

— В принципе, не было. Ещё на «Востоке», когда там был Корнилов, индивидуально каждый свою точку зрения, конечно, озвучивал, но не более. Он тогда сказал, что мы все будем представлены к наградам. С этим тоже связан любопытный момент. Чтобы наградили, кто-то должен написать представление с положительной характеристикой. Оказалось, что это сделал Астахов.

— ...который вас терпеть не мог.

— Ребята рассказывали, что он сначала заявил Корнилову, что будет писать только на некоторых, видимо, своих приближённых, на что тот ему заявил, что тогда и на него характеристику писать не станут. После этого он был вынужден всем полярникам дать положительную характеристику для представления к наградам.

— Как вас наградили?

— Все 20 человек, включая погибшего Карпенко, получили ордена Трудового Красного Знамени.

«Без Антарктиды нам не обойтись»

— Какая сейчас ситуация с российским присутствием в Антарктиде?

— Раньше у нас было семь станций, сейчас осталось пять постоянно действующих, в отличие от тех же китайцев, которые постоянно наращивают своё присутствие. Хотя где Китай и где Антарктида? Помимо научного аспекта, есть ещё и такой фактор, как престиж страны. Если мы претендуем на статус великой державы, то без Антарктиды, как и без космоса, и серьёзных исследований там не обойтись. Но во многом из-за серьёзных проблем с финансированием в 1990-е годы мы потеряли темп развития антарктических исследований. Потеряли нашу самую главную и крупнейшую станцию — «Молодёжную».

• Теплоход «Башкирия» у припая станции «Мирный»
• © Аркадий Максимов

— Каким вы видите будущий статус этого материка?

— Главное, чтобы Антарктида и дальше была материком мира. Там запрещено любое оружие, любые военные испытания, и хочется, чтобы так всё и оставалось, чтобы там не было никаких границ и разделений. Хотя есть те, кто пытается подорвать этот ничейный статус, требуя разбить материк на отдельные сектора. Пока такие попытки тормозятся, но в дальнейшем всё возможно.

— В марте этого года вышли ваши мемуары «Восток на самом дальнем юге», где вы публикуете подробный дневник, который вели во время той зимовки. Его охотно цитировал сам Василий Песков, когда писал о вашей эпопее. Почему вы решили опубликовать его только спустя 40 лет?

— По ряду причин, хотя тот же Песков, ещё когда был жив, меня тормошил, просил опубликовать. Но было очень много текущих дел, научной работы, всё время откладывал на потом. К тому же был и другой немаловажный аспект — многие из тех, о ком я пишу, довольно долго ещё продолжали работать в системе Госкомгидромета, и эти сведения могли им карьеру подпортить.

• Аркадий Максимов на станции «Мирный» с табличкой, на которой указано расстояние до города Фрунзе (Бишкек)
• © Аркадий Максимов

— Но в конечном итоге всё-таки написали.

— Тут свою положительную роль сыграл коронавирус: сидишь на удалёнке — самое время обрабатывать записи и писать мемуары. Тем более что я уже начитался разных непонятных публикаций, интервью некоторых участников зимовки, где царил полный хаос, куча небылиц каких-то транслировалась, решил, что пора рассказать, как всё было. У меня не какие-то обрывочные отдельные воспоминания, а всё чётко и подробно, по датам: кто сказал, что сказал, что сделал и так далее. Готовясь к публикации, убрал лишь некоторые моменты, связанные с поизносившимися нецензурными выражениями: я-то всё записывал как было, но в книгу такое нельзя.

In the second part of the interview with