Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located 750 mi (1,210 km) north of the Arctic Circle and 947 mi (1,524 km) from the North Pole on the northwest coast of the island of Greenland. Pituffik's Arctic environment includes icebergs in North Star Bay, two islands, a polar ice sheet, and Wolstenholme Fjord – the only place on Earth where four active glaciers join. The base is home to a substantial portion of the global network of missile warning sensors of Space Delta 4, and space surveillance and space control sensors of Space Delta 2, providing space awareness and advanced missile detection capabilities to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the United States Space Force, and joint partners.
Aerial view of Pituffik Space Base with Saunders Island in the background and the tombolo on the right
1989 aerial view
74th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-89s, Thule Air Base, Greenland, 1955
Reconnaissance route from Thule Air Base to Soviet Union
Greenland is a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. As Greenland is one of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union, citizens of Greenland are European Union citizens. The capital and largest city of Greenland is Nuuk. Greenland lies between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the world's largest island, and is the location of the northernmost area of the world – Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast is the world's northernmost undisputed point of land, and Cape Morris Jesup on the mainland was thought to be so until the 1960s.
Greenland visible from space. Arctic sea ice is not shown.
The Kingittorsuaq Runestone from Kingittorsuaq Island (Middle Ages)
One of the last contemporary written mentions of the Norse Greenlanders records a marriage that took place in 1408 in the church of Hvalsey, now the best-preserved Nordic ruins in Greenland. The married couple then travelled to Iceland, which is why the account has been preserved.
Godthåb in Greenland, c. 1878