Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. The three astronauts aboard, Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders, made a live television broadcast in which they sent Christmas greetings back to the Earth. Above, an image of the Earth taken near the moon during Apollo 8.
The first American Christmas holiday aboard a space station occurred in 1973 during the Skylab 4 mission to the first American space station Skylab. The station's three-man crew saved up their food cans to create this space Christmas tree.
Astronauts Michael Fincke, Expedition 18 commander, and Sandra Magnus, flight engineer, hold Christmas cookies while posing for a photo near the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Michael Fincke (right) and Sandra Magnus send holiday wishes to Earth in a video message.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, commander of Expedition 26 aboard the International Space Station, poses for a holiday photo near the station's miniature Christmas tree.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi floats through the passageway from the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft into the International Space Station shortly after docking Dec. 22, 2009.
This still from a NASA video shows the only Christmas holiday mission by a space shuttle crew. The astronauts of NASA's STS-103 mission in December 1999 visited the Hubble Space Telescope for a repair flight and donned Santa hats to mark the Christmas holiday in space.
Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson (left) and flight engineer Dan Tani discuss plans for their fourth spacewalk and the holidays during a Dec. 13, 2007 video links.
A Russian Soyuz rocket launches the Progress 27 cargo ship toward the International Space Station on Dec. 23, 2007 to deliver fresh supplies, birthday gifts and Christmas presents.
The unmanned Progress 27 cargo closes in on the International Space Station's Pirs docking port carrying Christmas gifts and other supplies during its smooth Dec. 26, 2007 docking.
Astronaut Leroy Chiao, Expedition 10 commander and NASA ISS science officer, poses with holiday decorations in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.
In the Mars500 mock spacecraft, Romain smiled happily with a cardboard Christmas tree and stockings full of presents.
Christmas is not the only holiday astronauts have celebrated in space. Many American and international holidays are also celebrated off the planet. Here, astronauts Nicole Stott and Jeff Williams show off some tasty food for Thanksgiving on the International Space Station.
As NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, talks to JSC's Mission Control Center, his live picture appears on a screen at the front of the facility. Flowers, adorning a console in the foreground, were sent by the Shelton/Murphy families for Thanksgiving in honor of the station crew members and the flight control team. The North Texas residents have been sending flowers to Mission Control since the first post-Challenger mission — STS-26 — in 1988
Members of the STS-129 crew share a meal while on the space station. The scene on Thanksgiving day will be similar onboard space shuttle Atlantis.
NASA astronaut Dan Burbank catches a floating can of cranberries on the International Space Station just before Thanksgiving.
American astronauts Douglas Wheelock (left), Shannon Walker (center) and Scott Kelly record a Thanksgiving holiday video message from their home on the International Space Station on Nov. 23, 2010.
Following a space-to-Earth press conference on Nov. 21, 2008, members of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour crews posed for a group portrait on the orbital outpost. Astronaut Donald Pettit appears at photo center. Just below Pettit is astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshin-Piper. Clockwise from her position are astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Steve Bowen, Eric Boe, Chris Ferguson and Michael Fincke, along with cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, and astronauts Sandra Magnus and Gregory Chamitoff.
ISS Expedition 12 commander Bill McArthur holds a pack of smoked turkey, Thanksgiving dinner aboard the International Space Station.
A "Tournament of Roses" rose, seen here with astronaut Rex Walheim, floated in Earth orbit in February 2008 before riding on a float in the 2009 Rose Parade.
Super Bowl Sunday may as well be a holiday, and even astronauts do their part. The STS-129 astronaut crew presented the space-flown flip coin to NFL officials at the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Jan. 27, 2010. The coin was used to decide the start of Super Bowl 44 in South Florida.
America's unofficial holiday is Super Bowl Sunday. Space station commander Michael Fincke gives the Pittsburgh Steelers a thumbs up in support of their NFL playoff game.
Astronauts on the International Space Station send a Thanskgiving message to Americans on Earth to wish them a Happy 2010 Turkey Day.
The Expedition 26 crew of the International Space Station pose for a photo on New Year's Eve to ring in 2011. Clockwise from the left are Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, all flight engineers; NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, commander; Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, both flight engineers.
The 6-man crew of the Mars500 mission, a 500-day simulated mission to Mars, poses for a fun photo on Chinese New Year in February 2011.
NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock sends a Fourth of July message to the United States and poses with the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to the late Lester Stone, an Army sergeant killed in action during the Vietnam War, on July 4, 2010. Full Story.
American astronauts Doug Wheelock, Tracy Caldwell Dyson (center) and Shannon Walker, all NASA spaceflyers and Expedition 24 flight engineers, pose for a photo with an American flag while aboard the International Space Station during their summer 2010 mission.
