17/12/2024
Two astronauts brought a little holiday cheer to space, when they played “Jingle Bells” aboard Gemini VI-A in 1965. 🔔🚀 After achieving the first crewed rendezvous with another spacecraft, astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra made history yet again by playing the first musical interlude in space.
Before reentering Earth's atmosphere, Stafford pranked Mission Control with a Santa sighting. Through radio transmission, he claimed:
"We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit...Very low, looks like he might be going to re-enter soon.... Standby one, you might just let me try to pick up that thing.... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit."
At that point, Schirra began playing a tiny harmonica while Stafford jingled these small sleigh bells to the tune of "Jingle Bells." In 1967, Stafford and Schirra donated the instruments to the Smithsonian, where they're on display in the “Destination Moon” gallery at our National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
