Russia Ready to Celebrate Cosmonaut Day on International Space Station

March 31, 2017

Oleg Novitsky Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky has been given official permission to skip work and celebrate Cosmonaut Day on the International Space Station (ISS).

Люк ТГК (транспортного грузового корабля) "Прогресс МС-05", а за ним в числе прочих грузов посылки от родных) #мкс #iss #мкс50 #космос #space #прогресс

A post shared by Oleg Novitskiy (@novitskiy_iss) on Feb 24, 2017 at 1:17pm PST

Novitsky's day-off is still full of official engagements, including a video conference with Mission Control and a pre-arranged Skype call to children at Russia's Artek summer camp, the TASS news agency reported.

Космический бутерброд) #мкс #мкс50 #космос #space

A post shared by Oleg Novitskiy (@novitskiy_iss) on Feb 2, 2017 at 1:16am PST

Novitsky will be the only Russian on board the ISS during the holiday. His fellow cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Sergei Ryzhikov are already scheduled to return to Earth on April 10. Novitsky will remain onboard with U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson and France's Tom Peske.

Наш экипаж. #мкс #iss #мкс50 #космос #space

A post shared by Oleg Novitskiy (@novitskiy_iss) on Mar 27, 2017 at 1:52pm PDT

Two new crew members — Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and America's Jack Fisher —are set to join the ISS on April 20.

Russia's Cosmonaut Day is celebrated annually on April 12.

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