After years of leading his fellow astronauts in Christmas carols on the ground, Chris Hadfield will be playing holiday tunes this year on the International Space Station. <\/p>\n
The Canadian astronaut will blast off toward the station Dec. 19 to join the Expedition 34 and 35 missions. <\/p>\n
He will spend the next five months, including the festive season, in space, separated from his family. Hadfield will also be away from Max Q and Bandella, the two astronaut bands he belongs to that occasionally do gigs in Houston. <\/p>\n
Luckily for Hadfield, he doesn't have to leave music on the ground completely. There is at least one musical souvenir from his country already onboard the orbiting laboratory: a Larrive Parlor acoustic guitar, which was shipped to NASA years ago from its company's headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. Hadfield, a veteran of two space shuttle flights, plans to play the guitar during his down time on the station. [Video: How to Play the Zero-G Guitar] <\/p>\n
Christmas in orbit <\/p>\n
At Christmastime, Hadfield and his crewmates will enjoy a festive dinner in space, likely with turkey and gravy for the main course and peach ambrosia for dessert. <\/p>\n
\"We will do the best to host a traditional Christmas kind of dinner,\" he said during a preflight press conference Tuesday (Dec. 11), telephoning from his quarantined room at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, where a Russian Soyuz rocket is being prepared to launch Hadfield and two crewmates next week. <\/p>\n
He added that the diversity of nations represented on the space station never guarantees a holiday will be celebrated by all, due to the workload that needs to be accomplished. <\/p>\n
But Christmas is recognized by most of the space station residents this time around; the Russian cosmonauts, who celebrate Orthodox Christmas in January, have agreed to join in on Dec. 25 as well. <\/p>\n
Music psychology <\/p>\n
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Canadian Astronaut Will Strum Christmas Carols in Space<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After years of leading his fellow astronauts in Christmas carols on the ground, Chris Hadfield will be playing holiday tunes this year on the International Space Station. Continue reading