Sunita Williams, Her Space Station 'Family' Send Christmas Greetings To All

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and her crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have extended Christmas greetings to everyone from space. The US space agency has shared a video featuring Williams and others talking about their Christmas plans.

"Welcome to the International Space Station as we get ready for the Christmas holidays. It's a great time up here, we get to spend it with all of our 'family' on the International Space Station. There are seven of us up here and so we're going to get to enjoy company together," Williams said.

She then talked about things she liked about the joyous occasion. "One of the best things that I like about Christmas is the preparation and just getting ready, the anticipation, everybody getting together and preparing stuff and just getting ready for the holiday," she added.

In the video, Williams is seen in a red t-shirt, while three of her colleagues wore the Santa caps. They even placed a Christmas tree next to them.

"A couple of little things we have here with us to just prepare which will be sort of fun in a couple of days," Williams said, releasing a few Christmas items.

To everyone on Earth, Merry Christmas from our @NASA_Astronauts aboard the International @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/GoOZjXJYLP — NASA (@NASA) December 23, 2024

She passed on the microphone to one of her colleagues who said, "Christmas time, the holiday season, is about spending time with friends and family... This year, we're going to be away from them. So, we wanted to send our heartfelt Merry Christmas and we hope you have a wonderful holiday."

They were not the only ones spending the holidays away from their families as there is a "huge team on the ground that's going to support us in mission controls around the globe over the holidays," he said. 

"I want to thank them for the sacrifices that they are making. Together, we work hand-in-hand with the ground every day and over the holidays we keep this mission going," he added.

Another astronaut noted that they had a lot of food delivered to the space station to enjoy Christmas time.

Earlier, NASA shared that a SpaceX Dragon capsule delivered several essential supplies and holiday gifts to the orbiting laboratory.

Sunita Williams and astronaut Barry Wilmore embarked on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in June this year for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission. They will now have to extend their stay until March 2025. They were set to return in February 2025, but it was postponed due to the delay in SpaceX's Crew-10 mission, the US space agency confirmed on December 17.