Rahul Somvanshi
The International Space Station completes one trip around the earth in 92 minutes. Moving at a speed of 27,700 km per hour, the crew on board the ISS witness 15 to 16 sunrises and sunsets every day, as per Earth Observatory.
Members from Expedition 66 Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Anton Shkaplerov and Pytor Dubrov of Roscosmos celebrated the New Year’s Day while ISS circled the planet.
The crew members of Expedition 66 became the 22nd team to celebrate the New Year on the ISS. For the first time they weren’t alone in space.
China’s Shenzhou 13 mission had a crew of three aboard. Chinese team made of Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, marked the day aboard their country’s Tiangong space station. The Chinese space station is is still under construction.
In addition to the Chinese crew and 22 International Space Station expeditions, 12 crew members aboard the Space Station Mir and one aboard Skylab of the United States were spinning around the Earth during new year’s eve.
