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ASTRONAUTS STRANDED ON THE ISS SENDS FESTIVE GREETINGS FROM OUTER SPACE

Published: 2025-01-05 11:04:32 Last Updated: 2025-01-06 10:50:03

The people you spend the holidays with are more important than where you are. The astronauts who spent Christmas and New Year's Eve in orbit on the International Space Station are a prime example of this. In an upbeat video, the crew gathered to wish everyone a happy holiday season in the hopes of sharing their experience and bringing some seasonal cheer back to Earth.
“This time of year is fantastic up here,” says Sunita “Suni” Williams, commander of Expedition 72. A snowman constructed out of stowage bags and astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Don Pettit, and Nick Hague accompany her in the video. "Up on the International Space Station, we get to spend it with our entire family. About the three Roscosmos cosmonauts on board the ISS—Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov—the astronaut says, "There's seven of us up here, and so we're going to get to enjoy company together."
Williams wore a red pullover and reindeer antlers to celebrate the holiday, and Hague, Pettit, and Wilmore all wore Santa caps, with Wilmore wearing his over a cowboy hat. The team released some candy canes and ornaments with images of their loved ones onto zero gravity after posing next to a tiny artificial Christmas tree to complete the festive scene.
It's important to spend time with loved ones, friends, and family during the Christmas season. Hague, who is anticipated to return to Earth in March following some delays in the spacecraft scheduled to retrieve him and Williams, states, "This year, we're going to be in orbit away from them."

The astronaut went on to thank the ground crews for their tireless efforts in keeping everything in order. It's not just us who will be spending the holidays apart from our loved ones. We have a massive team on the ground that will help us with mission controls all over the world," Hague continued. "I would like to express my gratitude to them for their sacrifices. Every day, we collaborate closely with the ground, and we continue this mission during the holidays," he stated.

Later, the group celebrated the New Year in a manner unique to ISS astronauts. The ISS posts on Instagram, "The Expedition 72 crew orbited into 2025 experiencing 16 sunrises and sunsets over 250 miles above the Earth." Hague also wrote a post reflecting on the year. "It's been pretty spectacular, looking back on the year," he writes. "As we look to a future full of promise and possibility, we have made significant progress as the @iss continues to conduct scientific exploration for all humanity." Cheers to 2025!

Article Tags: Viral Space Festive Greetings International Space Station Astronauts