New Yr’s holidays are a standard factor on the ISS. One may even say the normal: Georgy Grechko and Yuri Romanenko met the New Yr in orbit for the primary time again in 1978, whereas working on the Salyut-6 station. And final 12 months’s celebration turned out to be probably the most large in historical past — then 10 folks had been caught on New Yr’s Eve without delay (seven on the ISS, three on the Chinese language Tiangong station).
Russian cosmonauts, similar to atypical earthlings, watch the film “The Irony of Destiny, or With a light-weight Steam,” and enhance the inside of the Worldwide Area Station with a synthetic Christmas tree fastened on one of many partitions of the module.
Pilot-cosmonaut Alexander Lazutkin in an interview with Lenta shared attention-grabbing particulars of the celebration of the New Yr in zero gravity. For instance, the vacation is essentially accompanied by a solemn lunch and dinner, however with out champagne: alcoholic drinks are strictly prohibited on the ISS. Meals suppliers for astronauts often ship particular vacation packages to the crew prematurely. As well as, since groups from completely different nations typically meet on the ISS, astronauts frequently alternate scrumptious presents.
One other attention-grabbing side of the New Yr in orbit is that it may be met 16 occasions whereas the station crosses time zones. However, in accordance with Lazutkin, crews are often restricted to a few or 4, and don’t forget to name their family on Earth to congratulate them. However, usually, December 31 in house isn’t a lot completely different from December 31 on the planet — all work on the station have to be carried out strictly on schedule, and so they can’t be postponed even in honor of the celebration.
