In Russia, New Year's Day is a major family holiday that often sees families and friends visiting each other, as well as a late-night dinner and a dance. In the morning, children wake up early to look for presents under a decorated tree, Kaleri explained.
"We cannot go visit nor can we receive guests at the station, so probably we'll visit each other in our respective segments," Kaleri said.
Foale said he would be keeping an eye out for signs of celebrations, such as giant fireworks displays over major cities. The pair would especially like to see the display over Red Square in Moscow, but their flight path isn't expected to cooperate.
The pair already have enjoyed a pleasant Christmas on the station, with Foale confirming that Santa Claus was able to visit the outpost while the crew slept on Christmas Eve.
"He was able to sneak on board and he was pretty good to us," Foale said. "He was a little bit limited by weight constraints. He couldn't carry too much with him this time. It was nice to have something from home and something from my children."
Meanwhile, Foale and Kaleri report that overall everything is going well with space station Alpha, despite some technical problems and the ever-present desire to conserve supplies while the shuttle fleet remains grounded.
"It's much less dramatic than that," Foale said, explaining that immediately after the Feb. 1 loss of Columbia the Expedition Six crew that was at the ISS then immediately began conserving their supplies.
"There's an awful lot of food here that we've had to eat up from Expedition Six and there's a lot of clothing that were wondering what to do with," Foale said.
Foale said the water supply was in good shape "in a general sense" and that despite some problems with the Russian system that generates oxygen, the air quality remains good.
"I don't consider this any more difficult or serious of a regime than if we had a normal supply running with a space shuttle visiting regularly," Foale said.
In the absence of NASA's shuttle fleet, the Russian Space Agency has stepped up to the plate with its Soyuz spacecraft for crew transfer and Progress freighters for carrying cargo.
Russian government funding for the Soyuz and Progress vehicles seems to ride a roller coaster of support each year, but so far the Russians are continuing their commitment to the space station.
"One would like to hope that the financing of our sector would be sufficient to maintain the normal working ability of the station and ensure the appropriate cargo flow," Kaleri said.
The grounded shuttle fleet also is preventing launch of a replacement parts for the U.S. system that helps keep the station pointed in the right direction as it orbits the Earth.
That system relies on four gyroscopes, two of which have failed. The system can work with only two operational gyros but requires help from Russian steering jets. If another gyro fails, the Russian system will be the only means of pointing the station and there is only so much fuel on board.
Foale acknowledged the problem but said, "It's not a safety issue it's more of an operational issue."
"We have not discussed it with Bill Gerstenmaier, the program manager. That hasn't been a topic of conversation and that basically reflects the fact that I don't have any concern about it. Maybe I should, but Bill has not brought it up with us. He would if he had a concern," Foale said.
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