Festivities hundreds of miles above Earth
The first astronauts to celebrate Christmas from space was the Apollo 8 crew. The crew broadcasted live while orbiting the moon and read passages from the Bible. Since that first celebration, hundreds of people who have stayed at the International Space Station have celebrated various holidays there.
During his time as an astronaut, Retired NASA Astronaut and Air Force Pilot, Terry Virts, spent over seven months in space living and working on the International Space Station. Virts is also the author of The Astronauts Guide to Leaving the Planet, an illustrated children's book and How to Astronaut: Everything You Need to Know Before Leaving Earth.
While he was away from Earth, Virts celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Although it was dehydrated, Virts said he ate turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.
“We had Thanksgiving, like a day or two after I launched,” Virts said. “So, I was still kind of getting my sea legs. It was better here on Earth. It's better with your family, but it's also pretty cool to celebrate a holiday while you're floating.”
But with the holidays being a time for loved ones celebrating together, Virts said he did miss his home planet. Although NASA has communications set up for astronauts to text and video call their family, Virts said it can be hard for the families and friends on Earth waiting for the crew to fly home.
“The real hardship is for the families on Earth, because they're planning on getting back and they're ready to move on, " Virts said. “I had kids, and there were vacations and camps and all that kind of stuff. So the astronauts get all the fun. They get to fly in space and look at the planet, and the families are dealing with the plumbing broken and all the daily life stuff happens while we're off the planet.”
Virts helped film an IMAX movie called “A Beautiful Planet,” during his time at the ISS. The film was a partnership between NASA and IMAX to show how Earth looks in space. Virts filmed a scene while he was decorating the space station for Christmas and theorized that if Santa Claus was going to visit the ISS, he would have to come through the airlock instead of a typical chimney.
“I got the decorations, and I put these little hats on the space suits,” Virts said. “They're these two big spacesuits sitting in the airlock, you know, waiting for an astronaut to use them. We had a little Christmas tree. So, I put up all the Christmas decorations in there, and I got some dehydrated milk and some freeze-dried cookies, and I wrote Santa on them. So, there's a funny video of milk and cookies with a big Santa sharpie on the side floating in the air locks.”
In addition to cookies for Santa on Christmas, Virts said astronauts exchange presents in celebration. While it isn’t in any NASA training, astronauts who have been to the ISS before know to prepare for gifts while in orbit.
“Some of the guys were very thoughtful, they thought well in advance,” Virts said. “My Italian crewmate, Samantha, Christopher Eddie, her boyfriend at the time, now husband, was a trainer in the European Space Agency. He sent us little Legos. I have a little astronaut Lego Terry Virts.”
