The people on Earth ushered in the year 2021 with fireworks and social aloofness amid the global coronavirus pandemic last night. Even astronauts in space have found a way to celebrate in their own unique way: a ball that falls without gravity.
In a video from the International Space Station on New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31), five of the six astronauts living aboard the orbit lab revealed what would sound like in space in 2021. All they needed was a globe of the Earth.
“We just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very happy New Year,” said NASA astronaut Kate Rubins in the video NASA released on YouTube.
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“One of the most famous New Year’s Eve traditions is watching the ball fall on Times Square in New York City,” added NASA astronaut Victor Glover, referring to the iconic celebration in which thousands of revelers grab New York City’s Times Square for a Glittering ball drop at midnight to mark the new year.
This year, as New York City works to limit the spread of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, officials have blocked Times Square for most partygoers.
“As many of us are celebrating the New Year from home, we have brought this famous tradition to space to share with you,” said NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins in the video.
“Since we don’t have gravity, we have a special twist,” added astronaut Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
That turn? In weightlessness, the ball can fall upwards.
“3, 2, 1, Happy New Year!” the astronauts cheered in the video, which they had shot ahead of the actual New Year.
“We hope this inspires you to celebrate in your own way,” added NASA astronaut Shannon Walker just before that final count.
Glover, Hopkins, Noguchi, Rubins and Walker are part of the International Space Station’s seven-member Expedition 64 crew, with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Ryzhikov from Roscosmos completing the team. Rubins, Kud-Sverchkov, and Ryzhikov launched to the station in October on a Russian Soyuz rocket, while the rest of the crew launched to the station in November on SpaceX’s Crew-1 Crew Dragon spacecraft. They named the ship Resilience, in part to honor humanity’s fight against the coronavirus.
Celebrating a New Year’s holiday in space is a bit trickier than it looks, but it’s a vacation day for the station crew.
“The seven crew members of Expedition 64 aboard the International Space Station will see the New Year 16 times today and will be taking a day off on the first day of 2021,” NASA officials said in a statement.
The space station orbits the Earth about once every 90 minutes, making 16 orbits around the planet every day, hence the potential for 16 New Year celebrations.
“The station orbits the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour), allowing the crew to see 16 sunrises and sunsets every day,” NASA officials said. “The occupants of the space set their clocks to GMT, or Greenwich Mean Time, and start their new year at 12:00 GMT on January 1, or five hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time.”
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us on @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.