Astronauts will witness the arrival of the New Year 16 times

While the world is preparing to welcome the New Year, astronauts on the International Space Station are ready to observe the change from 2023 to 2024 in a special way. According to NASA, astronauts will experience the coming of the New Year 16 times this time. Due to the high speed of the space station and its uninterrupted orbit around the Earth, astronauts aboard will witness approximately 16 occurrences of both sunrise and sunset in a 24-hour cycle.

NASA says that in 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of the Earth, and thus there are 16 sunrises and sunsets during its journey. The International Space Station completes one full orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes at a speed of about 28,000 kilometers per hour.

This high-speed journey gives the astronauts a unique opportunity to welcome in the New Year as they travel through different time zones during their journey. Encountering multiple day-night cycles in a single Earth day is a common occurrence for the crew of the International Space Station.

Astronauts experience 45 minutes of daylight and 45 minutes of darkness, as opposed to the usual 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness on Earth. This continuous cycle occurs 16 times a day, resulting in a total of 16 sunrises and sunsets.