The Sundarban
They may no longer be home for Christmas, however astronauts in space are finding their very dangle way to make the season brilliant. They’ve even hung their space stockings by the airlock with care.
The space stockings are hung by the airlock with care on this report from the Expedition 74 astronauts on the International Space Station. A small Christmas tree sits atop the Kibo module airlock, too. (Image credit rating: NASA TV)
While Fincke and his crewmates pass over their family members on Earth, they are finding pleasure in a varied more or less family.
“It’s also a little bit sad because we’re not with our families at the time, but actually we are,” Fincke said. “We’re with our space family, so we’re okay. And we’re looking forward to spending the holidays together.“
The astronauts will celebrate in orbit alongside their Mission Retain watch over enhance teams all across Earth, from NASA’s Johnson Space Heart in Houston to facilities in Japan, Europe and Russia, he added.
Expedition 74 flight engineer Chris Williams, one of many newest arrivals to the ISS, said the astronauts are finding ways to place a zero-gravity accelerate on Christmas traditions. After all, he arrived at the station on another holiday: Thanksgiving.
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“So as you can see, we’ve got a little bit of decoration here,” Williams said within the video as he showed off a display adorning the small airlock hatch contained within the space station’s Japanese Kibo laboratory. “We’ve got a little tree, and we’ve also hung some boots by the airlock with cheer.”
Astronauts on the International Space Station have been spending Christmas in space for 25 years (the first crew took up dwelling in November 2000), and the first Christmas off Earth was in 1968 at some stage in NASA’s narrative Apollo 8 mission to orbit the moon. But being away from home is no longer a contemporary journey for astronauts, even before they joined NASA.
Four members of the Expedition 74 crew on the International Space Station wave at some stage in a Christmas video. From left are: Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Chris Williams and Zena Cardman. (Image credit rating: NASA TV)
Cardman, a geobiologist by training who conducted research in Antarctica and on sea expeditions, said this year is hardly the first time she and her crewmates have spent the holidays away from home.
“It’s so special for us to share the holidays with each other here in orbit, and with all of the teams taking care of us on the ground,” she added. “So we also want to say a great thank you to the families who are lending these crew members to us, and a thank you to those in Mission Control who will spend their holidays taking care of us, and to their families at home as well.”
Detached, it may be hard for a certain jolly extinct elf to reach the ISS.
“I think we may be orbiting a little higher than Santa is flying, though,” Cardman said.
JAXA astronaut Yui said the enhance from chums, family and Mission Retain watch over are a boon for him and his crewmates at some stage within the holidays. He’s wanting forward to sharing a taste of Japanese Christmas along with his crewmates this year.
“Probably, I’ll provide a lot of Japanese food for you guys to celebrate the holiday season,” Yui said.
Fincke, Cardman, Williams and Yui are four of seven astronauts currently dwelling aboard the ISS. Cosmonauts Oleg Platanov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev, all flight engineers with Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, round out the crew however did no longer appear within the video Christmas card.
“So from all of us aboard the International Space Station to all of you, we would like to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons, the happiest of Christmas,” Fincke said. “Merry Christmas, and a happy, happy New Year.”
Tariq is the award-a hit Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com’s Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before becoming a member of Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Occasions covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He’s a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can gain Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To glance his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.
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