High above Earth and down under, new year comes early

Ringing in the new year in Sydney, Australia

December 31, 1997
Web posted at: 1:12 p.m. EST (1812 GMT)

(CNN) -- It's time to say so long to 1997 and usher in a new year. While the United States waits with anticipation, in some places, it's already here.

Fireworks lit up the sky over Sydney as Australia marked the start of 1998 at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT). Officials were expecting more than half a million people for the festivities.

And high above the Earth, the crew of the Russian space station Mir celebrated with an inflatable champagne bottle.

Cosmonauts celebrate the new year on Mir with an inflatable bottle of champagne

According to Russian news agencies, the astronauts had some cognac to bid farewell to a troubled year in space.

There was no information on how the Mir crew decided which time zone they were in to make the celebration official. Moscow doesn't ring in the New Year until 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) Wednesday.

New Year's greetings from Mir 1.3M/20 sec./320x240 762K/20 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie Sydney's New Year's celebration 1M/12 sec./320x240 544K/12 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie

New Year's around the world EST GMT   8 a.m. 1300 Sydney 9 a.m. 1400 Guam, Papua New Guinea 10 a.m. 1500 Seoul, Tokyo 11 a.m. 1600 Beijing, Hong Kong 12 p.m. 1700 Bangkok, Jakarta 1 p.m. 1800 Bangladesh 2 p.m. 1900 Karachi 3 p.m. 2000 Abu Dhabi, Muscat EST GMT   4 p.m. 2100 Kuwait City, Moscow 5 p.m. 2200 Amman, Athens 6 p.m. 2300 Paris, Rome 8 p.m. 0100 Cape Verde, Azores 10 p.m. 0300 Santiago, Buenos Aires 12 a.m. 0500 United States

Related stories:

• Russia: New year, new rubles
• Clintons to celebrate new year in S.C.
• 1998 outlook: Travel deals harder to come by

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