Christmas Greetings from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit | International Space Station

Christmas Greetings from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit | International Space Station

A "High Tech Christmas" by Don Pettit

I’m dreaming of Christmas all snowy and white

while my ears are whispering Silent Night

An object flew by up high in the air

​my eyes focused in on things that weren’t there

I thought for a moment I was out of my mind

​it was really an encounter of the third kind

With sonic speed I could picture my doom

​a few moments later I shook from the boom

It screamed to a halt, right over my head

​and hovering there was a strange looking sled

It gave off an aurora from spontaneous emission

​was obviously powered by nuclear fission

From behind it was pushed by a rocket reindeer

​with ion exhaust drowning all you can hear

Was epoxy-graphite, titanium construction

​a sled so to speak of high-tech instruction

Preconceived thoughts made me shimmer with glee

​to be showed with gifts in a gluttonous spree

I expected at least some sort of computer

​from such an advanced space age commuter

Instead boomed a voice that was both short and tall

​“Peace on Earth my friend, Merry Christmas to all”

Then without so much as a silicon chip

​the sled ventured off on the rest of its trip

I thought for a moment I was going to cry

​that all Christmas goodies had passed me on by

But then I remembered those words in my ears

​the best Christmas gift I have had in years

NASA Astronaut Donald R. Pettit Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/donald-r-pettit/

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/donald-r-pettit/

Expedition 72 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Don Pettit

Release Date: Dec. 15, 2024

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