Tim Peake will lead an out-of-this-world Hogmanay celebration

Major Peake will light up screens in the Scottish capital in the minutes before midnight on New Year’s Even.

He arrived at the station in mid-December and has a series of experiments lined up during his six-month mission, including an endurance challenge where he’ll run the London marathon in real time as a virtual participant.

As many as 75,000 visitors from more than 80 countries are expected to attend the street party, where there will be entertainment on four stages and seven screens along the length of Princes Street.

The crew of aboard International Space Station, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA, Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency wished the people of Earth a Happy New Year through a video.

“I’d like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake saying ‘Hello, is this planet Earth?’ – not a prank call…just a wrong number!” he tweeted.

The astronaut said he would be too busy for New Year’s Resolutions.

Pete Irvine, director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said Edinburgh’s Hogmanay attracts revellers from all over the world. “This year we went one better and were visited from space”.

Tim Peake could be set to become the first British astronaut to carry out a Spacewalk, say experts.

“I’d like to wish everyone down on our handsome planet Earth a very happy New Year, and a fantastic 2016”, British spaceflyer Tim Peake said in the 50-second video, which NASA released Monday (Dec. 28).

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is organized by “Unique Events” on behalf of Edinburgh City Council.

Though Peake wasn’t originally scheduled to carry out a spacewalk during his mission, he is fully qualified to carry out EVAs, having trained at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Texas – a huge pool that features an underwater mock-up of the ISS and simulates the feeling of weightlessness.