Astronauts Suni Williams, 59, and Butch Wilmore, 61, have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June. While they’ll be spending Christmas away from Earth, they’ll still enjoy a festive meal. Their Christmas dinner menu includes smoked oysters, crab, duck foie gras, pâté, cranberry sauce, Atlantic lobster, croquettes, and smoked salmon.
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Despite having Christmas Day off, the astronauts will maintain their regular fitness routines on the treadmill and resistance machine to preserve bone and muscle strength. This time allows them to connect with family via email and internet phone calls. NASA Flight Director Chloe Mehring acknowledges the challenges of isolation in space but commends the astronauts’ professionalism and resilience.
Williams and Wilmore are joined on the ISS by other space travelers, including NASA astronaut and photographer Don Pettit, NASA’s Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov.
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The crew has already embraced the holiday spirit. A recent photo shared by NASA’s Johnson Space Center shows Williams wearing a Santa hat while using a ham radio in the ISS’s Columbus laboratory module. They also celebrated Thanksgiving with a special meal of smoked turkey, cranberry sauce, apple cobbler, and other traditional dishes. Williams even planned to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from space.
In an interview, Williams expressed their well-being and positive spirits, assuring those concerned that they are a happy crew.
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The astronauts’ return to Earth has been delayed until late March 2025. This delay allows NASA and SpaceX to prepare a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission. The new spacecraft is expected to arrive in Florida in early January. This adjusted timeline ensures the mission meets NASA’s requirements and achieves space station objectives for 2025.
