This is how astronauts celebrate Christmas in space, in case you were wondering
We all having our holiday traditions: caroling, baking cookies, floating around at zero gravity. Wait, what? At least, that’s how astronauts celebrate Christmas on a space station. And, TBH, it sounds pretty awesome.
Among the group currently on board the International Space Station is the oldest woman to go to space, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. She and two other astronauts, Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet, appeared in a NASA video last week and discussed their celebration. They ate a special meal, just like the ISS astronauts celebrated Christmas in 2015. On the menu was some standard holiday fare, like turkey, cornbread stuffing, and gingerbread. Even out of pouches and cans, it still sounds tasty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsSRWM85y7s?feature=oembed
Whitson also shared a beautiful sentiment about the experience of celebrating from space. "I think being on board the ISS gives us a slightly different perspective of Christmas…. besides funny hats there is another very important aspect of being on [the] ISS, and that’s seeing the planet as a whole, and it actually reinforces, I think, that the fact that we should live as one people and strive for peace."
Apart from the no gravity thing, the astronauts at the ISS actually have a pretty typical Christmas. They got the day off; in fact, since they always have Sundays off, they got today off, too!
Kimbrough began celebrations by tweeting on Christmas Eve. It’s a stunning photo of the Earth, along with a Merry Christmas wish.
O Holy Night…Merry Christmas from the #spacestation pic.twitter.com/C2SOxQEvgy
— Shane Kimbrough (@astro_kimbrough) December 24, 2016
The astronauts on the ISS obviously don’t get to be with their families, but they do get gifts. In fact, a Japanese cargo supply ship delivered presents to them in early December. (So they basically experienced a different version of eyeing gifts sitting under the tree and wanting to open them right away.)
They also got dressed festively. Whitson shared a photo of herself in holiday socks and a Santa hat on Twitter. Oh, and she’s just floating around weightlessly, NBD.
In the Christmas Spirit! pic.twitter.com/OHxAPcL48q
— Peggy Whitson (@AstroPeggy) December 22, 2016
It certainly seems that celebrating the holidays in space would be pretty cool. Of course, we know the astronauts there have made a lot of sacrifices. We’re just glad they got to have an extra day off, a special meal, and gifts from home.
