Astronauts on the International Space Station shared a festive message for people in the world as they prepare to invest the holidays in orbit. Expedition 66 team members, including NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, will be commemorating Christmas aboard the orbiting lab this year. The crew shared a special holiday message on Twitter, discussing what Christmas implies to each of them and reflecting on childhood memories spent with household. ” I always look forward to this time of year since even when I was away at the naval academy, that was constantly the time that I got to come house to see my family,” Barron said in the holiday video while using joyful red, light-up reindeer antlers on the orbiting lab. Related: Holidays in area: an astronaut picture albumThe Expedition 66 crew of the International Space Station sent a video message to Earth for Christmas 2021. From left to right: NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn. (Image credit: NASA) Barron released to the area station with SpaceXs Crew-3 mission on Nov. 10, in addition to Chari, Marshburn and Maurer. The team docked with the orbiting laboratory on Nov. 11 for an approximate six-month stay. They are set to return to Earth no earlier than late April 2022. In the holiday video, the team likewise shared how it feels to spend their first Christmas in space. ” Even though well be up here this year, we have our area family,” Barron said in the video. “So I think were going to produce some of our own customs and well be able to speak to our family on the ground.” ” Theres a new household here in area, therefore getting to invest Christmas as a household, with this household, is something I am eagerly anticipating,” Chari added in the video. The spaceport station orbits Earth about every 90 minutes, or roughly 16 times in a 24 hour day. Maurer, who works as the Crew-3 mission professional, joked that the crew will be celebrating Christmas 16 times while in orbit on Saturday, Dec. 25. Maurer also noted the value of doing a special job while commemorating the vacation in area. From mamas once-yearly double chocolate cookies to looking for the Christmas pickle, delighting in a special Christmas eve dinner, indulging a big Christmas early morning breakfast and embellishing the Christmas tree– the crew each shared their preferred holiday traditions. And since the crew will likewise be calling in the New Year in space, they took a moment to assess the year ahead and science experiments to look forward to. ” We get to see the sun rise often times a day, so thinking about the truth that individuals are awakening to a brand-new year each time we see that sunrise is going to be quite cool,” Chari said. The video ended with each astronaut sending their love and a special message to their families on Earth. ” I d like to let my household understand that no matter where I am, no matter how far away I am from all of you, that my heart is always with you,” Vande Hei stated in the video. Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
Exploration 66 crew members, including NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, will be celebrating Christmas aboard the orbiting laboratory this year. Related: Holidays in area: an astronaut image albumThe Expedition 66 team of the International Space Station sent out a video message to Earth for Christmas 2021.” Even though well be up here this year, we have our space household,” Barron said in the video. From mamas once-yearly double chocolate cookies to searching for the Christmas pickle, delighting in a special Christmas eve dinner, indulging a large Christmas early morning breakfast and embellishing the Christmas tree– the crew each shared their preferred vacation traditions.
