North Pole 1949 two other Soviet scientists (Vitali Volovich and Andrei Medvedev) became the first people to parachute onto the North Pole. They jumped from a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, registered CCCP H-369. On 3 May 1952 U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher and Lieutenant William Pershing Benedict, along with scientist Albert P. Crary, landed a modified Douglas C-47 Skytrain at the North Pole. Some Western sources considered this to be the first landing at the Pole until the Soviet landings became widely known. The United States Navy submarine "USS Nautilus" (SSN-571) crossed the North Pole on 3 August 1958. On
North Pole heat), rather than at altitude on a continental land mass. Despite being an ice cap, it shares some characteristics with a tundra climate ("ETf") due to the July and August temperatures peaking just above freezing. Winter temperatures at the northernmost weather station in Greenland can range from about , averaging around , with the North Pole being slightly colder. However, a freak storm caused the temperature to reach for a time at a World Meteorological Organization buoy, located at 87.45°N, on December 30, 2015. It was estimated that the temperature at the North Pole was between during the storm. Summer