Zero-gravity cookies and Santa space suits: Here's what it's like to spend Christmas in space

ISS Christmas 2005
Christmas on the ISS can get pretty festive — especially in zero gravity. NASA
  • There are often astronauts in the International Space Station over Christmas, and this year is no exception.
  • Despite being posted to a cramped space station, they still manage to celebrate with most of the traditional trappings.
  • That means Santa space suits, and if they're lucky they get the day off as well.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Advertisement

No one likes spending Christmas at work — but sometimes there's just no getting out of it. For example, if you are stationed in orbit 250 miles above the planet.

But despite being as far away as it's humanly possible to get from Earth — where Christmas was invented — astronauts aboard the International Space Station manage to keep their workplace pretty festive. They festoon the station with decorations, put up Christmas trees, open presents, and even get Christmas dinner.

The five astronauts who will be aboard the ISS for Christmas this year shared a video discussing their Christmas plans.  "Even though we'll be up here this year we have our space family, so I think we're going to create some of our own traditions and we'll be able to talk to our family on the ground," said NASA astronaut Kayla Barron.

 

 

Here are some amazing moments from the many Christmases which have been celebrated aboard the ISS.

Advertisement

Of course to have a real Christmas you need a Christmas tree.

ISS Christmas 2015
A Christmas tree watches the Earth from space. NASA/Scott Kelley

Astronauts may not be able to pick their own real fir tree, but for years they've been bringing up fake ones and adorning them with tinsel and decorations.

Over the decades astronauts have sometimes had to improvise.

ISS Christmas 1973
A Christmas tree made out of food packaging. NASA

This Christmas tree is fashioned from empty food containers, and was made by three astronauts aboard the ISS on the Skylab 4 mission in 1973.

Advertisement

For years astronauts have been decorating Christmas cookies in zero-gravity.

ISS Christmas 2008 cookies
Astronauts Michael Fincke and Sandra Magnus in 2008. NASA

In November 2019 a specially designed "space oven" was shipped to the astronauts on the ISS to experiment on the impact intense heat and zero-gravity would have on baking cookies, however NASA said at the time the astronauts would only be baking five experimental cookies in the oven and would not eat them.

Advertisement

The astronauts get Christmas dinner.

NASA preparing Christmas dinner
Sandra Magnus prepares Christmas dinner. NASA

It's impossible to prepare a full roast meal on the ISS, but astronauts still get an approximation of a Christmas dinner.

For Christmas 2018 crew members got a meal of smoked turkey, candied yams, corn, green beans, mac and cheese, and potatoes au gratin. This was followed by dessert options of strawberries, bread pudding, butter cookies, and shortbread cookies.

This feast was shipped up to the astronauts a few weeks ahead of Christmas aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Advertisement

This year is no exception.

Herb and Citrus Butter Roasted Whole Butterball Turkey
A roasted butterball turkey (not pictured: the turkey which the astronauts will be receiving this year). Butterball Turkey

Space reported the astronauts this year had their Christmas dinner shipped up to them onboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on December 22.

Before the shipment launched NASA space station program manager Joel Montalbano said the astronauts' Christmas menu included: "turkey, green beans, we have some fish and some seafood that's smoked."

"We also have everybody's favorite, fruitcake," he added.

In 2019 the astronauts were sent gingerbread men, some of which ended up floating around in zero gravity.

ISS christmas 2019 gingerbread man
Astronauts celebrate Christmas 2019 aboard the ISS. NASA
Advertisement

Stockings have also become a regular feature — although the lack of gravity means they don't necessarily hang the way they usually do.

ISS Christmas 2017
This picture of astronaut Mark Vande Hei was taken on Christmas Eve 2017. NASA
Advertisement

On Christmas morning astronauts emerge from their sleeping quarters to find their stockings and presents just like on Earth.

ISS Christmas 2010 Christmas morning
Christmas morning 2010 on the ISS. From left to right: European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. NASA

Presents from the astronauts' families are shipped up to the ISS ahead of Christmas day. Their families have to be organized, sometimes sending presents up as early as November to coincide with cargo ships travelling to the station with new supplies and science experiments.

This year's batch of Christmas presents was brought up on the same capsule as the dinner.

Advertisement

It's not just their families that give them gifts — the astronauts also get presents for each other.

In 2014 US astronaut Terry Virts tweeted that he'd got a harmonica from Russian cosmonaut Elena Sorova.

 

Santa Claus hats are another staple, as exemplified in this photo of astronaut Scott Kelly (2010).

ISS Christmas 2010
NASA
Advertisement

This picture from Christmas 2011 shows elf hats are also permitted.

ISS Christmas 2011
The upside-down elf is Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. NASA

And of course decorations are a must, as proven by this photo taken in the run-up to Christmas aboard the Russian segment of the ISS in 2012.

ISS Christmas decorations 2012
NASA
Advertisement

The decorations can get pretty space-themed.

ISS Christmas 2008
Sandra Magnus floats between two Santa-hatted space suits. NASA
Advertisement

Stuffing empty space suits and putting hats on them appears to have caught on, in 2014 US astronaut astronaut Terry Virts shared this picture.

ISS Christmas 2014
NASA

Virts and his team also left some "powdered milk and freeze dried cookies" for Santa according to ABC — although without a chimney, they had to settle for leaving them by the airlock.

 

Advertisement

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is famous for his orbital musical renditions, and Christmas is no exception.

ISS Christmas Chris Hadfield 2012
NASA

This photo was taken on Christmas day 2012, and according to NASA Hadfield later joined the rest of the crew for an "assortment of Christmas carols."

Advertisement

Sometimes astronauts get the day off, but not always.

In 2018 two out of the three crew members got the whole day off, while a third had to carry out a few odd jobs. "The only tasks on their schedule for Xmas besides meals and exercise are some blood and saliva sample draws for human research studies," a spokesperson told Space.com.

Sometimes the astronauts have more serious Christmas duties to attend to. On Christmas Eve 2013 NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio ventured outside the ISS on a space walk to fix a broken cooling system.

Advertisement

Even though the ISS might lack a few home comforts, being in space is a pretty unique way to spend the holiday.

Astronaut Anne McClain shared what it feels like to look down on the Earth at Christmas time during her stay on the station in 2018.

And in 2014 Terry Virts tweeted a video of what he called the ISS' version of Christmas lights.

 

Space NASA Christmas
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.