Astronaut celebrates Hanukkah from International Space Station with zero-gravity dreidel
An astronaut spending the holidays aboard the International Space Station shared a sweet Hanukkah message from 250 miles above Earth.
SpaceX Crew-7 NASA astronaut and mission commander Jasmin Moghbeli has been in space since late August. She and the rest of the crew are on a six-month mission.
Video she shared on X (formerly Twitter) shows a paper menorah taped to the Space Station window, with Moghbeli spinning a zero-gravity dreidel.
MORE: Wreaths Across America Day: How to help honor fallen soldiers this holiday season
"Happy Hanukkah from the International Space Station," she says in the video.
Crew-7 members European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen (L) and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli wave to family members before riding to pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Crew-7 mission on August 26, 2023
At a press conference in July, Moghbeli said her family made the menorah so she could celebrate Hanukkah with them from afar.
"In my household we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah so I’ve brought some items for both to celebrate with my family," she said.
MORE: Earth receives laser beam message from 10 million miles away
"I’ve got a Christmas ornament with a picture of the four of us together and also my husband and little girls helped make a felt menorah with lights for each night that I can pin on to celebrate with them."
Moghbeli, an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot and Marine Corps test pilot, has over 150 combat missions and 2,000 hours of flight time in over 25 different aircraft, according to NASA. She was selected as an astronaut in 2017.
NASA astronaut spins dreidel from International Space Station (Jasmin Moghbeli via Storyful)
Moghbeli launched to the International Space Station as Commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on August 26, 2023 and successfully docked a day later.