International Space Station (ISS) astronauts spend the winter holiday season orbiting hundreds of miles above family and friends. But that’s not enough to kill the holiday spirit.
“It’s a great time of year up here. We get to spend it with all of our ‘family’ up on the International Space Station,” said Suni Williams, commander of NASA’s Expedition 72, in a video message beamed from the ISS on December 23.
Williams and NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore comprise the crew of the space agency’s Boeing Starliner crew flight test (CFT)—an intended eight-day mission that ballooned to eight months following complications with the Starliner spacecraft. During their extended stay, the astronauts have feasted on irradiated turkey and freeze-dried potatoes for Thanksgiving and even cast ballots in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
This week, Williams, Wilmore, and five other ISS occupants celebrated Christmas from orbit as American astronauts have done every year since 1999. According to a NASA blog post, each astronaut gets time in private to speak with family and friends before rejoining their crewmembers to continue experiments and station maintenance. And, of course, they come together for a holiday feast.
The first crew to spend Christmas in space comprised Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders in 1968. As they circled the moon on Christmas Eve, they beamed some of the earliest images of the rocky lunar surface back to Earth during a reading from the Bible’s Book of Genesis. An estimated 1 billion listeners, or about one-quarter of the planet’s population at the time, tuned in to the broadcast.
In December 1973, the crew of Skylab 4, on a mission to the first American space station, used empty food containers and decals to build and ornament a makeshift Christmas tree, complete with a cardboard comet topper. After stepping out into the vacuum of space for a few hours to watch a passing comet, the astronauts returned to Skylab to eat fruitcake, open gifts, and call their families.
The first Hanukkah in space came a few decades later in 1993 when NASA’s Jeffrey Hoffman, on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, celebrated with a menorah and dreidel he brought from home. Unfortunately, a dreidel spinning in zero gravity cannot land on any of its faces, making for an uneventful dreidel game.
Astronauts also cannot light candles in space, but in 2023, ISS astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli improvised by pinning felt lights to a menorah made by her family.
Since 1999—when the space shuttle Discovery’s STS-130 crew dined on duck foie gras, cassoulet, and salted pork—at least one American has rung in the holidays from space. Since 2000, ISS crews have beamed a holiday “goodwill message” back to Earth.
This year, the station’s seven occupants showed off their prepackaged feast and festive cabin decor—including floating candy canes and a fun-sized Christmas tree—as they addressed family, friends, and the hundreds of personnel at NASA mission control who will also spend the holidays away from loved ones.
“During Christmas time, the holiday season, it’s about spending time with friends and family and loved ones,” said Nick Hague, commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission and flight engineer for Expedition 72. “This year, we’re going to be in orbit away from them. So we want to send our heartfelt Merry Christmas, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday.”
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The post How NASA Astronauts Ring in the Holidays From Orbit appeared first on FLYING Magazine.
