SOVIET UNION

SOVIET UNION / СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК.

Antarctic expeditions.
Map of the Antarctica and Emperor penguins.
Nineth stamp in a set of 12, issued on 22.12.1988.
Face value: 30 kopek.
Design: V. Koval.
Print: 6,500,000 copies.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 5902.
- StampWorld No. 5701.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 5948.

The first Soviet expedition to Antarctica left the Baltic port of Kaliningrad, on the Ob ship, on November 30, 1955 and lasted until 1957. 127 men participated in it led by the oceanographer and polar explorer Mikhail M. Somov (1908-1973). On February 13, 1956 they established the first Soviet base on the white continent, called Mirni, located on the coast of the Davis Sea, in the Land of Queen Mary belonging to the Australian Antarctic Territory. From then until 1991, when the USSR was dissolved, expeditions were conducted every year and other scientific bases were established.