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TheSoviet Antarctic Expedition (SAE orSovAE) (Russian:Советская антарктическая экспедиция, САЭ,Sovetskaya antarkticheskaya ekspeditsiya) was aSoviet research institute. It was succeeded by theRussian Antarctic Expedition.

TheSoviet Union's Ministry of Sea Transport was responsible for the administration, logistics and supply of the expeditions. The Soviet Antarctic Expedition was part of theArctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Soviet Committee on Antarctic Research of theAcademy of Sciences of the USSR.

The first Soviet contact withAntarctica was in January 1947, when the Slavawhaling flotilla began whaling inAntarctic waters.

SAE was succeeded by theRussian Antarctic Expedition.

The Soviet Union engaged in expeditions to Antarctica from 1955 to itsdissolution. After this, the Soviet Antarctic stations were taken over byRussia.

The first SovietAntarctic station,Mirny, was established near thecoast on February 13, 1956. In December 1957 another station,Vostok, was built inland near theSouth geomagnetic pole.

• Mirny (established February 13, 1956)
• Vostok (established December 16, 1957)
• Novolazarevskaya (established January 18, 1961)
• Molodyozhnaya (established January 14, 1963)
• Bellingshausen (established February 22, 1968)
• Leningradskaya (established February 25, 1971)
• Russkaya (established March 9, 1980)
• Progress (established April 1, 1988)

• Komsomolskaya (established November 6, 1957)
• Pionerskaya (established May 27, 1956)
• Druzhnaya I (on theFilchner Ice Shelf in theWeddell Sea)
• Druzhnaya II (on the Weddell Sea)

List of stations in use during theInternational Geophysical Year.

• Sovetskaya
• Pole of inaccessibility station

• Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
• List of Antarctic expeditions
• Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations
• List of Russian explorers
• Zapadnoye Lake

• Boczek, Boleslaw A. (1984)."The Soviet Union and the Antarctic Regime".The American Journal of International Law.78 (4):834–858.doi:10.2307/2202198.JSTOR 2202198.S2CID 146974520.
• Voronin, V. I. (1948) "The first Antarctic whaling expedition of the Slava flotilla" inProceedings of the Soviet Geographical Society,80(3):213–222
• Nudel'man, A. V. (1959).Soviet Antarctic Expeditions 1955-1959. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR.
• Gan, I, Towards the great unknown: the Soviets prepare for their thrust into the Antarctic interior, National and transnational agendas in Antarctic Research from the 1950s and beyond. Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop of the SCAR Action Group on the History of Antarctic Research, BPRC Technical report no. 2011-01, Byrd Polar Research Centre, Columbus, Ohio, pp. 116–130. (2012) [Conference Edited]
• Gan, Irina (2011). "'The first practical Soviet steps towards getting a foothold in the Antarctic': The Soviet Antarctic whaling flotilla Slava".Polar Record.47:21–28.doi:10.1017/S003224740999043X.S2CID 129798279.
• Gan, Irina (2010). "Soviet Antarctic plans after the International Geophysical Year: Changes in policy".Polar Record.46 (3):244–256.doi:10.1017/S0032247409008456.S2CID 145342011.
• Gan, Irina (2009). "The reluctant hosts: Soviet Antarctic expedition ships visit Australia and New Zealand in 1956".Polar Record.45:37–50.doi:10.1017/S0032247408007675.S2CID 145179179.
• Gan, Irina (2009). "'Will the Russians abandon Mirny to the penguins after 1959 . . . Or will they stay?'".Polar Record.45 (2):167–175.doi:10.1017/S0032247408007948.S2CID 144743332.
• Gan, I, The Soviet Preparation for the IGY Antarctic Program and the Australian Response: Politics and Science, Boletín Antártico Chileno 2nd SCAR Workshop on the History of Antarctic Research, 22–22 September 2006, Santiago, Chile, pp. 60–70. (2009) [Non Refereed Conference Paper]
• Gan, I, The Soviet Preparation for the IGY Antarctic Program and the Australian Response: Politics and Science, 2nd SCAR Workshop on the History of Antarctic Research, 21–22 September 2006, Santiago, Chile, pp. 11–15. (2006) [Conference Extract]
• Gan, I, There was no cold war in Antarctica. Soviet-Australian contacts in 1950s, Russia in Antarctica Conference proceedings, April 2006, Saint Petersburg, pp. 77–78. (2006) [Conference Extract]

• Map of biological data from the Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1955–1958)

• Soviet Antarctic expeditions
• Antarctica research agencies

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