The Winter and Fall holiday season is typically a joyful season where people often spend time with family and friends. But have you ever wondered how holidays are spent in space?--mila boyden, 6th grade
The Winter and Fall holiday season is typically a joyful season where people often spend time with family and friends. But have you ever wondered how holidays are spent in space? Imagine trying to decorate a Christmas tree, spinning a dreidel, or having a Thanksgiving feast in zero gravity, Even The Fourth of July without fireworks! It may sound impossible but that’s what astronauts have to do every year.
“In the early years of the space program, holidays spent in space were relatively rare events, such as the flight of Apollo 8 around the Moon during Christmas 1968, making them perhaps more memorable. As missions became longer and more frequent, holidays in space became less rare occasions. For the past 20 years, holidays spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have become annual, if not entirely routine, events.” says the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)news paper.
The first holiday spent in space was the flight of Apollo 8 around the Moon during Christmas in 1968. The crew consisted of three people: Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders; they all spent the holiday while circling the Moon. They were the first humans to have left Earth orbit. The crew celebrated the event on Christmas Eve by taking turns reading the opening verses from the Bible’s book of Genesis as they broadcasted scenes of the Moon gliding by below them. There is an estimate of around one billion people in 64 different countries who tuned in to the broadcast. The Apollo 8 crew splashed down back to earth on December 27th 1968 just a couple days before New Years. The NASA newspaper also states that as the crew left the moon's orbit, Lovell radioed back to Earth, where it was already Christmas Day, “Please be informed there is a Santa Claus!”
“In the early years of the space program, holidays spent in space were relatively rare events, such as the flight of Apollo 8 around the Moon during Christmas 1968, making them perhaps more memorable. As missions became longer and more frequent, holidays in space became less rare occasions. For the past 20 years, holidays spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have become annual, if not entirely routine, events.” says the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)news paper.
The first holiday spent in space was the flight of Apollo 8 around the Moon during Christmas in 1968. The crew consisted of three people: Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders; they all spent the holiday while circling the Moon. They were the first humans to have left Earth orbit. The crew celebrated the event on Christmas Eve by taking turns reading the opening verses from the Bible’s book of Genesis as they broadcasted scenes of the Moon gliding by below them. There is an estimate of around one billion people in 64 different countries who tuned in to the broadcast. The Apollo 8 crew splashed down back to earth on December 27th 1968 just a couple days before New Years. The NASA newspaper also states that as the crew left the moon's orbit, Lovell radioed back to Earth, where it was already Christmas Day, “Please be informed there is a Santa Claus!”
The first Hanukkah that was celebrated in space was in December 1993. it began on Wednesday, December 8th 1993 and ended on Thursday, December 16th 1993. NASA Astronaut and MIT professor Jeff Hoffman broadcasted a video to Earth in which he was on the Space Shuttle Endeavor (which has been to space 25 times by now) spinning a dreidel in zero gravity and showing off his travel-size menorah.
A more recent celebration of this holiday in space was in 2019 when Jessica Meir posted a picture on twitter. In the tweet she wears festive Hanukkah themed socks with purple menorahs and green stars of david. Meir posted this photo when she was on the ISS (international space station) and took advantage of it floating in low earth orbit to take a stunning photo. According to The Times Of Israel Jessica Mier wrote “Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it on Earth!” She wrote above a photo of herself floating atop windows offering a spectacular view of a cloud-draped Earth below.
This year 2021 five astronauts on the ISS (International Space Station) out of the seven-person Expedition 66 crew gathered to film a YouTube video about their Thanksgiving in space. The crew members aboard the ISS were Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos; NASA astronauts Chari, Barron, Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer. For their Thanksgiving feast they ate Thanksgiving delicacies such as crab bisque, candied yams, cherry blueberry cobbler, along with the requisite turkey. According to Space.com “NASA astronaut Raja Chari acknowledged the astronauts will still need to put in their required 90 minutes to two hours of exercise to stay healthy during their months of time in microgravity. But to make things fun, traditionally International Space Station (ISS) crews call their Thanksgiving treadmill time a turkey trot.”
An earlier celebration of this holiday was on November 22, 1973, With the Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson and William R. Pogue. According to Nasa.gov “On that day, their seventh of an 84-day mission, Gibson and Pogue completed a 6-hour, 33-minute spacewalk, while Carr remained in the Multiple Docking Adaptor with no access to food. All three made up for missing lunch by consuming two meals at dinner time, although neither included special items for Thanksgiving. Astronaut Carr also demonstrated how to eat food in space for Thanksgiving.
A more recent celebration of this holiday in space was in 2019 when Jessica Meir posted a picture on twitter. In the tweet she wears festive Hanukkah themed socks with purple menorahs and green stars of david. Meir posted this photo when she was on the ISS (international space station) and took advantage of it floating in low earth orbit to take a stunning photo. According to The Times Of Israel Jessica Mier wrote “Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it on Earth!” She wrote above a photo of herself floating atop windows offering a spectacular view of a cloud-draped Earth below.
This year 2021 five astronauts on the ISS (International Space Station) out of the seven-person Expedition 66 crew gathered to film a YouTube video about their Thanksgiving in space. The crew members aboard the ISS were Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos; NASA astronauts Chari, Barron, Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer. For their Thanksgiving feast they ate Thanksgiving delicacies such as crab bisque, candied yams, cherry blueberry cobbler, along with the requisite turkey. According to Space.com “NASA astronaut Raja Chari acknowledged the astronauts will still need to put in their required 90 minutes to two hours of exercise to stay healthy during their months of time in microgravity. But to make things fun, traditionally International Space Station (ISS) crews call their Thanksgiving treadmill time a turkey trot.”
An earlier celebration of this holiday was on November 22, 1973, With the Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson and William R. Pogue. According to Nasa.gov “On that day, their seventh of an 84-day mission, Gibson and Pogue completed a 6-hour, 33-minute spacewalk, while Carr remained in the Multiple Docking Adaptor with no access to food. All three made up for missing lunch by consuming two meals at dinner time, although neither included special items for Thanksgiving. Astronaut Carr also demonstrated how to eat food in space for Thanksgiving.
The Skylab 4 crew also made a Christmas tree that was made out of empty metal food containers.
Spending holidays in space is a hard thing to do but Astronauts and cosmonauts around the world do it all the time. Have you ever wondered what it might be like to spend holidays in space? Maybe you could one day!
Spending holidays in space is a hard thing to do but Astronauts and cosmonauts around the world do it all the time. Have you ever wondered what it might be like to spend holidays in space? Maybe you could one day!
