In more than 40 years, the research vessel "Polarstern" has travelled almost two million nautical miles. In the dock, the icebreaker shows off its dents and its inner workings.

Temperatures in double figures below zero, metre-thick ice, thousands of nautical miles from home: the federally owned research vessel "Polarstern" is built for extremes. Time and again, it sets course for the Arctic and Antarctic so that scientists can conduct research there. Between two expeditions, the "Polarstern" had to go to the shipyard in Bremerhaven in the spring. There she showed her dents, but also what she is made of. Four engines with a total of around 20,000 horsepower, a helicopter hangar, underfloor heating for outside and a swimming pool - a tour of an icebreaker sitting on dry land.

"The "Polarstern" is a research icebreaker. It was built in Germany in 1982",