Soviet engineers set a collapsed gas field in Turkmenistan's desert alight, expecting it to burn out in weeks. Fifty years later the 'Door to Hell' still roars, and one man has climbed inside.
The 230-foot pit of fire in the Karakum Desert: the contested origin story, the decades of flames, and why the gas keeps feeding it.
ScienceAlert on the scale and the science: a methane field that collapsed into a cavern and has glowed day and night ever since.
The story usually told: a 1971 drilling rig breaking into a gas pocket, the decision to burn it off, and the blaze that never stopped.
Explorer George Kourounis is lowered to the floor of the burning crater in a heat suit to collect samples, the first person ever to stand inside.
ExplorersWeb on Kourounis's 2013 descent, why he did it, and the heat-loving microbes he hoped to find living in the flames.
Reports that the fire has dimmed sharply and that Turkmenistan wants to finally put the Door to Hell out, over environmental and health concerns.
The on-again effort to close the Door to Hell, and why wasted natural gas and failed past attempts make it so stubborn to kill.