posted 11-24-2010 09:11 PM               

Station Crew Offers Thanks at the Thanksgiving Holiday

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 25 commander Doug Wheelock and flight engineers Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly offered their thoughts about the Thanksgiving holiday and being away from home at the start of the holiday season in a message downlinked on Nov. 18, 2010.

Wheelock and Walker are scheduled to return to Earth Thanksgiving evening, U.S. time, with Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin for a landing in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.

Kelly will remain on the station with Russian crewmates Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka until March.

posted 11-24-2010 09:15 PM               

NASA Invites Public to Send Holiday Greetings to Station and Watch Message from Space

For many Americans, the Thanksgiving holiday is about journeys that bring families and friends together. This Thanksgiving, half of the International Space Station crew will return home to Earth. The crew has recorded a holiday greeting that is airing on NASA Television and available on the NASA website.

The public also is invited to send holiday greetings to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station via the NASA website.

Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin are scheduled to leave the station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft Thursday, Nov. 25, at about 8:22 p.m. EST and land in Kazakhstan at 11:46 p.m. Remaining aboard are Expedition 26 crew members Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka.