They will serve delicious food from their everyday rations and will have a symbolic sip of cognac.
The Russian and U.S. mission control centers will organize crew telephone conversations with their families.
"We shall have no Christmas tree or presents from our relatives – worse luck," Yuri Gidzenko told Itar-Tass.
However, despite the dearth of homestyle Christmas cheer, the astronauts will see the New Year 15 times.
The crew will start New Year celebrations at 15:00 Moscow time (12:00 GMT) over Fiji, lying close to the international date line on December 31. The ISS will then enter the third millennium at 15:00 Moscow time on January 1, 2001.
"The station makes 16 turns around the Earth in 24 hours. Therefore, the crew will fly into the 21st century 15 times and will return to the 20th century 14 times," the mission's deputy director, Viktor Blagov, said.
Fortunatley, they are not on Earth, as this would require over a case of champagne, and 14 hangovers, which is too much 'auld lang syne' for anyone.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.