ASTRONAUTS DISCUSS CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S FROM ORBIT ABOARD SPACE STATION

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 66 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron of NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer shared their thoughts about spending the holiday season in orbit and the traditions they look forward to during a downlink recorded Dec.15.

Vande Hei is in the midst of a year-long mission on the station, while Chari, Marshburn, Barron and Maurer arrived on the complex Nov. 11 for a planned six-month mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.