Kharkovchanka Soviet Antarctic Cruisers STT

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Kharkovchanka , code name: Manufacture 404S, is a model of Antarctic off-road vehicle. Based on the AT-T tractor platform (itself based on the T-54 tank). In December 1959 two of them (“21” and “23”) were delivered to Antarctica and reached the South Pole. The massive off-road snow vehicle had a total of a small galley, toilet, oven, and eight beds. Three Kharkovchankas were built in 1958, and shipped to Antarctica. They traversed from the ocean coast to the existing Soviet Vostok Station in February 1959. Two of these, and a third AT-T tractor, left Vostok station for the geographic South Pole in early December 1959, arriving at the pole on 26 December 1959, and surprising the US crew that had been airlifted into the Amundsen–Scott Station the previous summer. Dozens of more exploratory missions into Antarctica were made with Kharkovchankas in subsequent years.