On August 6, the icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy” delivered Fedor Konyukhov, who completed work at the world's first one-person drifting polar station SP-24 near the North Pole, to Murmansk.
Recall that the expedition began with a powered paraglider flight to the North Pole. Fedor Konyukhov and pilot Igor Potapkin were the first in the world to reach the landmark geographical point on an aircraft so unusual for the Arctic, and in between they set a second world record for the duration and range of flight in high latitudes on a paraglider.
After a safe landing, Igor Potapkin was taken on board by the nuclear-powered vessel "50 Let Pobedy", which had arrived after them, and Fedor Konyukhov deployed a one-person polar station on a drifting ice floe.
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According to the expedition headquarters, the beginning of the drift was recorded on July 9, at 16:30 Moscow time at coordinates 89° 53' N, 122° 23' W.
Fedor Konyukhov started in the western hemisphere and drifted over an area of 25 square kilometers until 23:00 on July 14, then at coordinates 89° 51' N and 114° 42' W a steady course to the southeast was established with a north-westerly wind.
At 03:30 a.m. on July 18, the ice floe with the traveler crossed the prime meridian and returned him to the eastern hemisphere in the area of 89 ° 35' N, continuing to move southeast.
On July 23, at 18:00, the drifting polar station reached the southernmost point of its route: 88° 58' N and 28° 50' E, after which, under the influence of the south and south-easterly winds, the third, final stage of the drift in a north-easterly direction began.
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In total, the traveler spent 20 days, 22 hours and 45 minutes (502 hours and 45 minutes) alone on the ice floe, during which he traveled 239 km (149 miles). The distance from the point of the geographical North Pole at the time of the end of the drift was 95.65 km, the maximum distance was 113.66 km (July 23, at 18:00 Moscow time).
Thus, Fedor Konyukhov set another world record for being at a one-person research polar station near the North Pole in terms of duration and distance traveled.
During the drift, records of seismic activity of the Arctic Ocean floor were obtained using a digital seismograph from the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The drift took place in severe weather conditions. The traveler was accompanied by thick fogs, low clouds with sleet, hail, and icy rain. The speed of wind gusts reached 60 km/h. The sun came out only a few times for a few hours.
On July 30, at 15:15 Moscow time, the famous Russian traveler boarded the icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy”, which was making another voyage to the North Pole, so before returning to Murmansk, Fedor Konyukhov – now together with his headquarters and supporters – once again visited the "top of the planet".