Admiral Bellingshausen Sets Off on Arctic Expedition

The sailing ship Admiral Bellingshausen began its voyage from the port of Sillamäe to the Arctic on May 25.

During the Arctic expedition, a series of popular science films will be recorded, research will be carried out and water and soil samples will be taken for use by Estonian scientists.

The 24-metre Dutch-built ketch will visit Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Spitsbergen mountains and Norwegian fjords.

The trip to the Arctic and back is set to last more than three months. The Bellingshausen sailed to Antarctica in 2019/20 to mark the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the Antarctic ice shelf by Saaremaa native Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, a Captain in the Iperial Russian Navy at the time.

First Estonian Woman Reaches Peak of Mt Everest

On Sunday, May 23 mountaineer Krisli Melesk became the first Estonian woman to reach the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest. Melesk and 13 other climbers reached the peak at approximately 6:05 a.m. Estonian time on Sunday.

"The weather was nice. So we were at the summit for about 45 minutes," Melesk told the daily Postimees. Melesk became the fourth Estonian to ever reach the highest peak in the world.

On May 22, 2003 Alar Sikk became the first Estonian to climb Mt. Everest. Tanel Tuuleveski and Andras Kaasik reached the peak in 2011.

New Vabamu Exhibition About U.S. Welles Declaration

On May 27, the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn opened a new exhibition: "The U.S. Declaration that Supported Estonia's Independence".

The exhibition introduces the impact of the Welles Declaration on Estonia's national continuity and the country's re-independence.

The Welles Declaration was a diplomatic statement issued on July 23, 1940 by Sumner Welles, the acting U.S. Secretary of State, condemning the June 1940 occupation by the Soviet Union of the three Baltic states and refusing to recognize their annexation as Soviet republics.