Daring Antarctic Rescue Accomplished

An Antarctic expeditioner has been successfully—and dramatically—evacuated after suffering a medical emergency, CNN reports. No further details on the patient, who is believed to be American, but an Australian medical team landed in an A319 Airbus today and took off again little more than an hour later. The team, which took off from New Zealand because no US aircraft could respond in time, found a break in the weather (it's -13 degrees Fahrenheit there today), and landed on an ice runway during the small window of twilight that slightly broke Antarctica's almost completely dark winter. (More Antarctica stories.)