The first women to fly to Antarctica were the American flight attendants Patricia (Pat) Hepinstall of

Holyoke, Colorado Holyoke is the List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of cities and towns in Colorado, most populous municipality of Phillips County, Colorado, Phillips County, Col ...

and Ruth Kelley of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

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who were members of the crew on the

Pan American Pan-American, Pan American, Panamerican, Pan-America, Pan America or Panamerica may refer to: * Collectively, the Americas: North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean * Something of, from, or related to the Americas * Pan-Amer ...

flight which landed at the US

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

on October 15, 1957. The two women joined the flight in

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, New Zealand, on the last leg of the flight from

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. They received a warm welcome at the base despite misgivings by Rear-Adminal Dufek who had called for an all-male crew. The matter was however outside his jurisdiction. Although some of the station's over-wintering staff avoided meeting the women after so many months, some 50 others took part in celebrations which included a beard contest and a US versus New Zealand sled race. New Zealanders from the nearby

Scott Base Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctica, Antarctic research station at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, RN, leader ...

were also invited to attend. The PanAm pilot, Ralph Savory, referred to the flight attendants as "very nice looking stewardesses".

References

{{Authority control Exploration of Antarctica Female polar explorers Flight attendants McMurdo Station Pan Am Women aviation pioneers