Holidays in space: an astronaut photo album

They won't be home for Christmas, and they don't get any fireworks on the Fourth of July: See how astronauts celebrate holidays in space. 

In the photo above, the Expedition 61 astronauts celebrate Christmas and the holidays in orbit on board the International Space Station in December 2019.

Christmas at the International Space Station

The Expedition 61 astronauts celebrate Christmas and the holidays in orbit aboard the International Space Station in December 2019.

Fourth of July

NASA astronauts Jack Fischer and tried a variety of poses in their stars-and-stripes gear to celebrate Independence Day 2017.

Astronaut Sends Fourth of July Message From Space

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. [Read the Full Story.

Labor Day Weekend for Astronauts: Space Toilet Cleaning and Exercise

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.

Getting Festive in Space

Italian astronaut Samantha Christoforetti floats with Christmas decorations, including stockings hung with care, on the International Space Station to celebrate Christmas in space in December 2014.

Expedition 50 Rings in 2017

Happy New Year from the International Space Station! Although the orbiting lab operates on Universal Time, Expedition 50 crewmembers celebrated the New Year at midnight in three different time zones, each corresponding to their homes in the United States, Russia and France.

Peggy Whitson in the Cupola

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA sent holiday greetings and festive imagery from the cupola window on Dec. 18, 2016.

A Skylab Christmas

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.

Christmas Dinner 2016

All six members of the Expedition 50 crew aboard the International Space Station celebrated the holidays together with a festive meal.

Christmas in Space 2012: Zero-G Stockings

Christmas stockings for the six-man Expedition 34 crew decorate the International Space Station in December 2012. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield snapped this photo: "Our stockings are hung by the Node 3 hatch with care, in hope that St Nicklaus has a big red spacesuit."

Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast

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.