As the first crew to spend Christmas in space and leave Earth’s orbit, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders celebrated by orbiting the moon in December 1968. The staff celebrated Christmas Eve by reading the opening verses of the Bible book. Genesis as they broadcast scenes of the lunar surface below. An estimated one billion people in 64 countries attended staff broadcasts.
In 1973, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in space, becoming the first crew to celebrate the harvest festival and live in orbit. Celebrated New Year’s Ring. The crew made a homemade tree out of leftover food boxes, used colorful decals as decorations, and topped it with cardboard cutouts in the shape of a comet. Carr and Pogue performed a seven-hour spacewalk on December 15, 1973 to replace film canisters and observe the passing comet Kohotek. open presents
After NASA launched the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit in 1990, NASA sent a Space Shuttle crew STS-61 on a mission to service the telescope. In 1993, NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman celebrated Hanukkah after completing the third spacewalk of a servicing mission. Hoffman celebrated with a traveling menorah and dreidel.
As NASA continued to support another Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, the STS-103 crew celebrated the first Space Shuttle Christmas aboard Discovery in 1999. With NASA astronauts Curtis Brown, Scott Kelly, Steven Smith, John Grinsfeld, and Michael Foley (ESA). European Space Agency) astronauts Jean-François Clervoy and Claude Nicollier enjoyed duck foie gras over salt pork with Mexican tortillas, cassoulet, and lentils. Smith and Grinsfeld completed repairs on the telescope during a spacewalk on December 24, 1999, and at least one American astronaut has celebrated Christmas in space every year since.
In November 2000, the arrival of Expedition 1 crew members, NASA astronaut William Shepherd and Roscosmos cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, aboard the International Space Station, marked the beginning of a continuous presence in space. As the first crew on the laboratory outpost to celebrate the holiday season, they began the tradition of reading a goodwill message to those back on Earth. Shepherd honored the naval tradition of writing a poem as the first entry of the new year in the ship’s log.
For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence on the International Space Station, helping astronauts learn to live and work in space for long periods of time. As NASA supports missions to and from the station, crew members continue to vacation in space.
The husband and daughters of Expedition 70 flight engineer NASA astronaut Jasmine Moghbeli have one Menorah felt to celebrate Hanukkah during his mission. Because astronauts can’t light real candles on the space station, Moghabelli put on “lights” for each night of the eight-day vacation. A spinning dreidel in weightlessness will continue to spin until it comes into contact with another object but cannot land on any of its four faces. 70 campaign staff members recorded leave. A message to those back on Earth.
The International Space Station is a combination of science, technology, and human innovation that makes research impossible on Earth. The orbiting laboratory is a springboard for developing the low-Earth economy and the next big leap in NASA exploration, including missions to the Moon under the Artemis mission and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars.
For more vacation memories on the International Space Station, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/holidays-on-the-space-station/
To learn more about the International Space Station, its research and its crew, visit:
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