INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, January 21. /TASS/. The Russian crewmembers on board the International Space Station (ISS) have wished a Happy Chinese New Year to their counterparts aboard the Tiangong space station, Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin, a TASS special correspondent, reported on Saturday.
"We warmly congratulate our counterparts, astronauts of the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), who are on a difficult watch aboard the Tiangong orbital station, on the start of the Year of the Black Rabbit in the Chinese lunar calendar! We wish you fruitful accident-free work, interesting scientific discoveries as well as a stronger friendship between our space agencies," cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Anna Kikina wrote.
On January 22, 2023, some Asian nations are celebrating the Chinese New Year. It is marked on the first day of the first month under the Chinese lunisolar calendar. This ancient yearly cycle was developed in China during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). In the Gregorian calendar, it falls on a date between January 21 and February 21. The coming year will be the Year of the Black Water Rabbit.
On November 17, 2021, TASS and Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, according to which the agency’s office was opened on the ISS. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin became the first special correspondent for TASS. His flight lasted 12 days. Oleg Artemyev took over as the agency’s second special correspondent. The current contributor to the TASS news feed from the orbital outpost is Dmitry Petelin.