The German research icebreaker Polarstern drifts with the Arctic ice in March 2020, just as the rest of the world faced the first pandemic lockdown. Near the North Pole, the vessel was 1,000 kilometers away from any other point of civilization—even further than the International Space Station. Its isolation turned out to be its salvation. Considered system-relevant, MOSAiC and the ISS were the only scientific expeditions to continue in spite of the pandemic.