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A dry New Year - but space station crew will have Jack Frost fun

Dec 31, 2006, 18:33 GMT

Moscow - The crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) may have decided to ring in the new year without any alcohol, but they'll still be having their bit of fun as Russian Jack Frosts. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin said in a video link-up Sunday that he and US astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria would be dressing up as traditional Russian frostmen, while female US astronaut Sunita Williams would be the young 'Snow Flake'. 'We're an unusual bunch - lots of fantasy, all comedians, and so we're all determined to mark the turn of the year in some way,' Tyurin said. He added that the ISS had no shortage of costumes. The three will be experiencing the New Year 16 times on board humanity's furthest outpost in space as the station orbits the Earth that many times a day - but without raising a glass. 'Last year the ISS crew had a surprise in the form of cognac beans, but this year there is a total ban on alcohol,' food expert Alexander Agureyev of the Russian Academy of Sciences said in Moscow. According to the Russians, the alcohol party-poopers are the Americans from the NASA space authorities. 'This time the new year presents were flown out with the US Space Shuttle Discovery under the control of NASA. The alcohol ban is strictly observed there,' the Russian expert said. The crew are expected to feast on special rations for the new year: each of them was allowed to take six containers of their favourite food with them. Tyurin took beef goulash, bream in tomato and mustard sauce and aubergines, Agureyev said. There is also nut tart and dried cherries and plums. 'You can create a nice festive spread from these foodstuffs,' the expert said. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur