Roscosmos, the Russian space agency announced on Saturday that seven people rang in the new year onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and three on the Chinese station Tiangong, making it the most crowded New Year’s celebration in orbit in the history of manned space exploration.
“2022 was celebrated in near-Earth orbit by ten earthlings: seven on the International Space Station and three on the Chinese Tiangong Space Station,” Roscosmos said in a statement published on its website.
“This was the most crowded New Year’s celebration in orbit in the history of manned space exploration,” Roscosmos said.
In the early years of the space program, holidays in space were relatively rare and therefore even more memorable. The first cosmonauts to celebrate the New Year in space were Yuri Romanenko and Georgy Grechko in 1977-1978.
As space travel became more prolonged, holidays in space became more common. With the appearance of the Soviet Mir station in 1986, the New Year began to be celebrated regularly: 12 Mir crews spent this holiday in orbit.
The arrival onboard the International Space Station of the first long-term expedition (Sergei Krikalev, Yuri Gidzenko and William Shepard) on November 2, 2000, marked the beginning of the permanent human presence in space. They were the first to celebrate the New Year at the new station.
According to Roskosmos, 83 people have spent New Year’s Eve aboard the International Space Station (ISS) over the last 21 years, with several cosmonauts and astronauts doing so multiple times.
Anton Shkaplerov, a Russian cosmonaut, spent four New Years in orbit: (in 2011-2012, in 2014-2015, in 2017-2018. and 2021-2022)
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