Holidays in the Heavens: Space Celebrations
Troy Morris, Director of Operations
4 minute read
As the calendar gets short, the nights get long, temperatures get low, and decorative lights get placed high, it becomes the holiday season! Already families and friends have many choices to make, with parties for hosting, caroling and going out in the snow; there’ll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories… you know, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” With more humans than ever before entering and now remaining in orbit, those classic celebrations are sought in the spacecraft, shuttles, and stations overhead. But space is hard.
Beyond the normal factors of an endless-and-uncaring void, environmental radiation, and multi-elemental physics, many cultural and religious observances are tied to a place, time, or at least a gravity-based tradition. For time and date-related observances in Judaism for example, Judith Resnik, during STS-41-D aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, elected to observe Shabbat with electronic candles according to her home in Houston, Texas (also the site of Mission Control), and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon consulted with rabbis and determined to observe Shabbat in time to his last residence of Cape Canaveral, due to crossing the date line and observing multiple sunsets a day during STS-107 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. These similar space-time difficulties have been noted in the regular rituals observed by Muslims in space, which led to the creation in 2007 of the "Muslim Obligations in the International Space Station" outlining permissible modifications to rituals such as kneeling when praying (not required in space), facing Mecca when praying (left to the astronaut's best abilities at the start of prayer), and washing (a wet towel will suffice). In the average ten minutes for prayer and with the movement of the station, a prayer starting over Mecca would be completed over Madagascar, approximately 2,800 miles apart.
Many celebrations and religious ceremonies also include alcohol, and while Buzz Aldrin did consume white wine with communion while on the Moon in July 1969, space agencies have since banned alcoholic consumption in space. The drink has a tendency to aerosol in microgravity and induce nausea in astronauts, cause damage to the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems, and be a potential fuel for fires. In addition to banning any product containing alcohol, including aftershave or mouthwash, the space agencies give special notice of banning champagne, as the bottle could have “unpredictable” recoil when opened. It is likely for the best that celebrations in space don’t include the iconic “pop” of a cork flying off a bottle.
The first recorded celebration was broadcast from Apollo 8 as the astronauts orbited the Moon on Christmas Eve, reading from the Book of Genesis during the ninth orbit of the Moon. It has been estimated that one in four people alive at that time watched the Emmy Award-winning broadcast, either live or delayed. Astronaut William Anders captured Earthrise earlier on that same day, December 24, 1968, during the fourth orbit of the Moon, which has since been described as, “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.” With a relatively short mission of six days and in a flight full of firsts, including the first crewed spaceflight from Kennedy Space Center, the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, and the first human spaceflight to reach another astronomical object, there was little extra room for a tree.
When Expedition 1 arrived at the ISS on November 2, 2000, the International Space Station saw the first Christmas, and being continuously occupied since that mission, the crew have observed over two decades of ISS Christmas. In that time traditions have arisen, including a shared Christmas dinner, some decorations, and at times even an artificial tree. As an international project, the ISS holds many notable examples of cooperation, but from the first mission of an American commander and two Russian crew, there arose an interesting question preceding any celebration: when is Christmas?
With a mixture of nations partaking in the construction and operation and even more diversity of crew on the station, there is representation from many cultures, ethnicities, religions, and faiths. These factors and traditions are brought into the calculated mission calendar of the orbital crew and ground staff to provide time off of duty for each respective of their background. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas by the Julian calendar, which falls on or near January 7 on the Gregorian calendar, whereas the calendar followed by the Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations has Christmas on December 25. This provides the interesting answer to, “when is Christmas?” With a spread of available answers, the crew often celebrates Christmas more than once (because why not take the chance to share the orbital holiday with your colleagues).
Another opportunity for sharing with colleagues includes Hanukkah, which includes the sharing of cultures and an unexpected record in space. When astronaut David Wolf stayed aboard the Mir space station for 128 days starting in September 1997, his mission included observation of the Festival of Lights. While the hazards of microgravity fire in an oxygen-rich atmosphere prevented the lighting of a menorah, he did spin dreidels. He was later quoted, “I probably have the record dreidel spin, it went for about an hour and a half until I lost it. It showed up a few weeks later in an air filter. I figure it went about 25,000 miles.”
This December, as stockings are hung by the chimney with care, it can be enlightening to look overhead and try to see a wonder above our world. Santa may make his trip around the world once a year, moving at approximately 650 miles per second, but at a relatively slower 4.76 miles per second, the ISS is more likely to appear as it orbits over Earth approximately 16 times a day. Whether you spy the capsules and modules, or the reindeer and sleigh, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and enjoy the “Happy Holidays.”
Recommended column to read next: On a Pale Blue Dot