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Over 80 people celebrate New Year at ISS in past 21 years - Russian space agency

According to Roscosmos, cosmonauts Sergey Krikalev and Yury Gidzenko and astronaut William Shepherd were the first to spend New Year’s Eve at the ISS

MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. Over 80 people celebrated the New Year at the International Space Station (ISS) in the past 21 years, Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Agency said in a statement.

"A total of 83 people celebrated the New Year at the ISS in the past 21 years. Some cosmonauts and astronauts did it more than once, with Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Skaplerov ringing in the New Year at the orbital outpost four times (in 2011-2012, 2014-2015, 2017-2018 and 2021-2022)," the statement reads.

According to Roscosmos, cosmonauts Sergey Krikalev and Yury Gidzenko and astronaut William Shepherd were the first to spend New Year’s Eve at the ISS.

In 2022, ten people celebrated the New Year in orbit, including Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, Germany’s Matthias Maurer and Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping (at China’s Tiangong space station).