Three NASA astronauts dwelling aboard the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) marked Independence Day with a number of heartfelt phrases for his or her compatriots right here on Earth.
It was written by the American members of the station’s present Expedition 73 mission, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim and Anne McClain.
All three are members of the U.S navy — Ayers is a lieutenant colonel within the Air Power, McClain is an Military colonel and Kim is a lieutenant commander within the Navy, in addition to a former SEAL — so Independence Day has a particular that means for them.
“This can be a particular vacation for me. It simply reminds us of the liberty that we get to take pleasure in and that we’ve got loved for thus a few years,” Ayers stated in a 160-second video, which was recorded on June 16 however posted by NASA on Thursday (July 3).
“Defending that freedom is necessary to all of us right here as navy officers, but additionally NASA astronauts,” she added. “And we’re proud to serve our nation, each on Earth and in house.”
“For me, the Fourth of July represents the obligations that we every have — to whom a lot is given, a lot is predicted,” McClain stated. “Our forefathers gave us the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and each era should shield that for future generations.”
Kim stated the Fourth of July is a “deep day of reflection” for him, an event to recollect American beliefs and honor the sacrifices of those that have helped uphold them.
“And to these following our mission, the spirit of exploration, identical to the spirit of freedom and democracy, is what has made our nation so nice,” he added.
The trio spoke in entrance of a big American flag, which that they had affixed to an ISS module wall. In addition they supplied extra patriotic aptitude towards the top of the video: All three did a celebratory backflip, revealing socks with a stars-and-stripes theme.
Ayers, McClain and Kim aren’t the one People at the moment dwelling on the orbiting lab. It additionally homes record-setting former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who’s now the director of human spaceflight for the Houston-based firm Axiom Area.
Whitson is commanding Axiom’s four-person Ax-4 mission, which arrived at the ISS on June 26 for a roughly two-week keep. Her three crewmates are pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India; mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a European Space Agency astronaut from Poland; and mission specialist Tibor Kapu, who hails from Hungary.
There are 4 different folks on station in the intervening time as nicely, all of them members of Expedition 73: cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, in addition to Takuya Onishi of JAXA (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company).