ISS crew sends holiday greetings from space: “What a wonderful place to spend Christmas!” That was the word this week from Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, and his crewmate and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev on the International Space Station.
Wearing Santa hats, the astronaut and the cosmonaut extend Christmas and new year’s greetings to everyone on Earth in a video clip available from NASA TV during which they take turns at the microphone http://anon.nasa-global.speedera.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/jsc/windows/holiday05_iss.asx In it, McArthur says that this is his favorite time of year, and he regrets not being able to spend it with his family this year.
“As we look down on the earth, especially during this timeof year, it really strikes us how fortunate mankind is to live on such a wonderful, beautiful planet,” McArthur goes on to say during the greeting, which runs about almost four minutes. “And also we realize we have great responsibilities as stewards of this planet.” McArthur and Tokarev will return to Earth in April.