Astronaut to the ISS, sending the Christmas news to the inhabitants of Earth with a message of hope in a year full of challenges due to the global pandemic. The seven members of the Expedition 64 crew took a break from orbit to relax and make phone calls to friends and family, but five of them released special videos for everyone on Earth.
His message: Resilience, after the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that launched four astronauts to the ISS station last month. “We chose the name in honor of people around the world and the team that helped make our one-year life-changing mission possible,” NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said in a statement. vacation video. “We also want to remember all the people who lost us this year,” he added.
Hopkins launched on the ISS station on November 16 with the Dragon Resilience Crew along with NASA astronaut Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, Soichi Noguchi. They were joined by another NASA astronaut, Kate Rubins, who was already at the station with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.
“There is no better name to describe 2020,” Glover said. “The endurance of the human soul is something we can really celebrate in this special season.”
Walker says that when he reflected on Earth from his previous perspective, it became clear how connected (and beyond) everyone on this planet really was. In another video, she remembers exactly what Christmas and the holidays meant to her.
“For me, that means the three Fs, family, friends and food,” Walker said. Space.com.
There will definitely be party food on the space station today. On December 6, a SpaceX Dragon freighter delivered many new supplies to the station, including several Christmas presents for the crew.
“The crew will put Christmas food into orbit,” said Kenny Todd, NASA’s deputy director of programs for the Space Station, at the time. “I don’t think it surprises them, but more than that… I don’t like going out in front of Santa,” he said.
“College girls have spent years working on food products and were recently approved to be astronauts in space,” he added.
“This is a special gift from Wakasa High School,” said Noguchi. “It’s a box of mackerel, but it’s a big leap for Japanese high school girls.”
Rubins said the ISS space station crew added a contest to their Christmas vacation. Astronauts decorated the corridors of the International Space Station with Christmas decorations made from items they found around the spacecraft. They challenged NASA’s mission control team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to do the same, using only the decorations from their mission control building. “We’ll see how it goes,” Rubins said.
Upon returning to Mission Control, NASA Aviation Director Zebulon Scoville displayed a dazzling red and white Christmas sports coat and a flight console wrapped in string lights and other decorations. “I know you have launched a challenge and I will just say the Mission Control award? Challenge accepted, ”Scoville said. “You may have to cut this coat and do something new later.”
Meanwhile, Glover wears luxurious socks with photos of his family in one of the videos. “My family on the court is definitely in my thoughts and prayers, and in my socks,” Glover said. “But it also reminds me of all the people who can’t vacation with their family.”
Glover sends a special thank you to the members of the military and health services who work hard to keep the public safe during the holidays. “We hope you take this opportunity to celebrate the holidays before turning the calendar into a new year with fresh hope and excitement for the future,” concluded Noguchi.
(iqb)
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