After a 127-day voyage to the Bulgarian base on Livingston Island and back, the first Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) returned home, docking Tuesday at the Varna Marine Station, Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reported. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev caretaker Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov, caretaker Education Minister Sasho Penov and Chief of Defense Adm. Emil Eftimov took part in the official welcoming ceremony. Meeting the ship on the pier were Naval Academy (NVNA) Rector Nikola Vaptsarov, Flotilla Adm. Prof. Boyan Mednikarov, Commander of the Bulgarian Navy Rear Adm. Kiril Mihaylov, Regional Governor Mario Smurkov, representatives of the local and state authorities, and many citizens. BTA"s Daily News editor Konstantin Karagyozov was the only member of the media who traveled on board the ship to Livingston Island and back and covered the Bulgarian expedition on site throughout its stay in Antarctica. The RSV 421 is owned by a consortium consisting of the Naval Academy, the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute. The Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii was ceremoniously christened and commissioned into the Bulgarian Navy inventory on July 27, 2021. Before the ship"s first polar mission, it was repaired, modernized and refitted in Varna. On Dec. 27, 2022, RSV 421 set sail from Varna Marine Station, marking the beginning of the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic expedition to the Bulgarian polar base on Livingston Island, part of the South Shetland Islands. The ship was loaded with building materials and equipment needed for the construction of a laboratory as part of the Bulgarian base. On Feb. 4, 2023, RSV 421 arrived in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where a team of polar explorers, researchers and logisticians boarded. The ship then began her final voyage to Livingston, successfully crossing the Drake Passage. It reached its destination on Day 49 of its voyage. The research and construction activities of the Bulgarian polar explorers lasted 24 days. The Bulgarian naval research vessel was given a formal welcome organized by the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy (NVNA) of Varna, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute (BAI) said. The institute is headed by Prof. Christo Pimpirev who also heads Bulgarian Antarctic expeditions. The RSV 421 is the first Bulgarian vessel to reach Livingston Island, BAI noted. It is part of the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic expedition, supplying construction materials for the new laboratory bloc to the St. Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Antarctic base, as well as 50 tons of cargo to the Juan Carlos I and Gabriel de Castilla Spanish stations on Deception Island. The first Bulgarian research studies in the Southern Ocean were also conducted on board the RSV 421. — Agencies