Russian Cosmonauts Send New Year Greeting From the ISS

Overview

• Roscosmos released a video in which Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergey Mikaev and Oleg Platonov congratulate Russians and share well-wishes from orbit.
• The crew will mark the New Year on Moscow time, which falls at 21:00 on station time, with December 31 as a working day and official rest days on January 1, 3, 4 and 7.
• Holiday decorations follow strict rules that allow only nonflammable, soft, compact items such as knit toys, a small plastic tree and a foldable wall-tree panel.
• Festive dishes are improvised from packaged supplies, including cakes, pizza and, when ingredients permit, Olivier salad, with toasts made by clinking juice pouches because alcohol and carbonated drinks are banned.
• Small, safe gifts prepared on Earth in advance are exchanged on board, reflecting the station’s limits on size, materials and cargo space.