Hubble had been in hibernation since the loss of its fourth gyroscope, designed to enable the telescope to point precisely at distant astronomical targets for scientific observations.Įach of the seven STS-103 crewmembers, which included astronauts from the United States, France and Switzerland, called down holiday wishes from space in several languages after Space Shuttle Discovery departed Hubble.
After three consecutive days of spacewalks to make repairs and upgrades, they returned the Hubble Space Telescope to service on Christmas Day. In 1999, Foale was a member of STS-103, the first and only Space Shuttle mission to fly during the holiday.Ī Christmas tree made out of cans by the Skylab 4 crew.įoale and his STS-103 crewmates gave NASA and the world a Christmas present that is still giving to the scientific community. Kaleri's Expedition 8 crewmate is Astronaut Michael Foale, who will also spend his second Christmas in space. His crewmates were Russian Cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Alexander Kaleri, who will spend his second Christmas in space this year as a member of the Expedition 8 crew aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut John Blaha celebrated the holiday in orbit aboard the Russian Mir space station in 1996. It would be 22 years before another American would spend Christmas outside Earth's atmosphere. To give Skylab a touch of the holiday season, Commander Gerald Carr, Pilot William Pogue and Scientist Edward Gibson made a Christmas tree with food cans. The Skylab 4 crew was the next set of astronauts to spend Christmas in space, in 1973. This is an example of one of the breathtaking images of the Moon and the Earth taken by the Apollo 8 crew. Eight more Apollo missions would visit the Moon, with six of them landing on its surface.
The Apollo 8 crewmembers ended their history-making journey when they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 21 and entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. It is estimated that as many as one billion people watched the historic broadcast or listened on the radio.Īpollo 8 launched from Earth on Dec. Borman closed the message with the words "good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."
To mark the occasion, they sent Christmas greetings and live images back to their home planet and read from the Book of Genesis. They were also the first astronauts to spend Christmas in space. Much like the shepherds and wise men during the first Christmas, people around the world had their attention turned toward the heavens 35 years ago this week, when the Apollo 8 crew delivered its famous Christmas Eve broadcast from lunar orbit.Ĭommander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to orbit the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968.
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