International Space Station astronauts celebrate New Year's eve 16 times

WASHINGTON: Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) celebrated the New Year's eve a whopping 16 times since the space station passed over a part of Earth witnessing midnight sixteen times.

The Expedition 42 crew orbiting Earth on the ISS got the opportunity to celebrate New Year's Eve 16 times as it circles the globe at about 28,163 km per hour, NASA said.

The crew spent New Year's eve day working on a variety of experiments, ranging from those directed at better understanding changes that occur in the human eye during long-duration spaceflights, and with Earth observations aimed at helping with disaster aid on the Earth's surface.

The crew also continued preparations for the arrival of the next cargo supply ship, the commercial resupply mission of SpaceX-5 and the Dragon spacecraft.

Launch of Dragon on a Space-X Falcon 9 booster is planned for January 6 and will rendezvous with the space station on January 8.

Dragon is loaded with more than 3,700 pounds of scientific experiments, technology demonstrations and supplies, including critical materials to support 256 science and research investigations that will take place on the space station during ISS Expeditions 42 and 43.

Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and his crew includes NASA's Terry Virts, Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov, and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.