Being away from home for the holidays may be difficult but imagine being in space for the holidays! How do astronauts celebrate in the International Space Station? Let’s find out.
The first time a group of astronauts celebrated the holidays on space was not in the ISS but on the Apollo 8 in 1968. The event was broadcasted while the crew read verses from the Bible and sent images from the moon. Fun fact, James A. Lovell, an astronaut from the crew, while communicating with the ground station send this message “Please be informed there is a Santa Claus!”
From that moment, many expeditions have spent the holidays in space and have always tried to bring the Christmas spirit with them. Take as an example the Skylab 4 expedition (1973), that built a Christmas tree with their food containers and later had a special dinner where they had the opportunity to speak with their families and open presents.
But, celebrating Christmas didn’t meant there was no work to do, a crew of 7 with the missing to repair the Hubble Space Telescope celebrated holidays inside the Discovery. During Christmas day, a space way was programmed for the repairs. Later, they had a peculiar dinner menu with duck foie gras on Mexican tortillas, cassoulet and salted pork with lentils.
The first time that the holidays were celebrated on the ISS was on the year 2000 with a crew of 3. They began the tradition to read a message for all people on earth (don’t miss out this year’s video!). As years have passed by, also the space Christmas menu has improved, being an actual feast! With things like: Smoked Turkey, mac and cheese, green beans, candied yams, fruitcake, shortbread, butter cookies. Presents from the astronaut’s families are sent along with the cargo with more than a month in anticipation, but also between astronauts there’s a gift exchange!
Astronauts might be very far from home, but that doesn’t mean that they miss out the holiday celebrations. They still have fun a show they holiday spirit!