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Big Miracle: The Real Rescue in Images

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Operation Breakthrough team

gray whale rescue, Big Miracle

(Image credit: NOAA.)

Above are just a few of the people from a wide array of groups that participated in the rescue. From left to right: Mark Fraker (an oil company worker); Dave Withrow and Jim Harvey.

"There were so many groups Inupiat hunters, biologists, oil companies, United States and Soviet Union government agencies, the military, non-profit organizations, and the press on the scene and everyone wanted to play a part," Withrow said.

Andrea Thompson
Andrea Thompson
Live Science Contributor

Andrea Thompson is an associate editor at Scientific American, where she covers sustainability, energy and the environment. Prior to that, she was a senior writer covering climate science at Climate Central and a reporter and editor at Live Science, where she primarily covered Earth science and the environment. She holds a graduate degree in science health and environmental reporting from New York University, as well as a bachelor of science and and masters of science in atmospheric chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology.