[3] From 1903 to 1905 Helmer Hanssen participated in Roald Amundsen's successful search for the Northwest Passage, as second mate on board the ship Gjøa.

[4] He was one of the first five people to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911, along with Roald Amundsen, Olav Bjaaland, Oscar Wisting, and Sverre Hassel.

Helmer Hanssen was awarded the Knight of St. Olav for exceptional seamanship on Roald Amundsen's expeditions in the northern and southern parts of the world.

[6] A statue of Helmer Hanssen together with the rest of Roald Amundsen's Antarctic explorer team is located at the Fram Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo, Norway.

[8][9] Hanssen was portrayed by Jan Hårstad in the 1985 television serial The Last Place on Earth, and by Mads Sjøgård Pettersen in the 2019 film Amundsen.