posted 12-24-2015 04:00 AM               

Happy Holidays from the International Space Station

On board the International Space Station, Expedition 46 commander Scott Kelly with NASA, flight engineer Tim Kopra of NASA and flight engineer Tim Peake with ESA offered their thoughts on being in orbit away from home during the Christmas holidays and what Christmas means to them in a message downlinked on Dec. 17.

Kelly is nearing the end of his ninth month of a year-long mission on the orbital laboratory, while Kopra and Peake arrived Dec. 15 to begin a six-month mission on the complex.

Season’s Greetings from NASA

Mars is not the only place to explore during holidays. Follow our little Robot as he surveys his new surroundings. This holiday house is full of NASA treats... see if you can spot them all.

posted 12-24-2015 11:30 AM               

T’was the EVA before Christmas and up on the Moon,
The mission near ending, I thought much too soon;

The suits just then stowed for a long lunar nap,
When at the main hatch, we both heard a loud tap;

Outside the window there seemed clouds of smoke,
I thought for a minute Houston was playing a joke;

We suited up quickly, depressed, then went out,
What we saw near the LEM made both of us shout;

We knew that this story folks would always refute,
But there were some reindeer, each wearing a space suit;

Santa stepped down, looking really quite keen,
Wearing the largest EVA suit that we’d ever seen;

He said that, “Earth’s children will be seeing me soon,
I thought I’d start here, with you guys on the Moon.”

He said, “You’ve both been two really good boys,
But when you took off, man, what a noise.”

He said not to worry about our third guy above,
The Command Module Pilot would, too, share the love;

“I’ve got presents for all,” he said with a smile,
As he dug through that huge pressurized pile;

He gave us two boxes, each wrapped in a bow,
And admitted that he preferred Moon dust to snow;

Not too much later, CAPCOM chimed in and cried,
“Our computers all read you both standing outside!”

As Santa was heading to his sleigh’s covered dome,
We both wondered how we’d explain this back home;

The countdown for reindeer began really quick,
And his liftoff from the surface, to us, looked quite slick;

posted 12-31-2015 11:08 AM               

Happy New Year from the Space Station

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 46 commander Scott Kelly with NASA, flight engineer Tim Kopra of NASA and flight engineer Tim Peake with ESA wished the people of Earth a Happy New Year.

Kelly is nearing the end of his ninth month of a year-long mission on the orbital laboratory, while Kopra and Peake arrived Dec. 15 to begin a six-month mission on the complex.