As of this writing, astronauts and cosmonauts have celebrated 81 birthdays aboard the International Space Station (ISS), an average of about four per year since human occupancy began in November 2000. As crewmembers made repeat flights to ISS, a number have celebrated more than one birthday in space, the record now standing at four. In addition to celebrating their own special days traveling in space, ISS crewmembers participate remotely in the anniversary festivities of their ground-based loved ones, co-workers, celebrities, historical figures, pets, and even organizations from their outpost in low Earth orbit. Prior to the ISS Program, dozens more astronauts and cosmonauts celebrated their special day in orbit, mostly aboard Soviet and Russian space stations, since the first event in 1971. Space limitations don’t allow featuring every space-based birthday, and some were more private events, but we provide a healthy and happy sample of celebrations through the years.
As Commander of Expedition 20, Gennadi I. Padalka helped initiate 6-crew operations aboard ISS, significantly increasing crew time available for research. Uniquely, Expedition 20 included crewmembers from all five ISS partners – Padalka and Roman Y. Romanenko from Russia, Michael R. Barratt from NASA, Robert B. Thirsk from Canada, Frank L. DeWinne from the European Space Agency (ESA), and Koichi Wakata from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). On June 21, 2009, Padalka turned 51 and his five crewmates helped him celebrate his second of four birthdays aboard ISS, the most of anyone to date. In addition, all six crewmembers also celebrated Father’s Day that fell on the same day and Wakata’s 100th day in space.
Astronaut Sunita L. Williams celebrated her birthday aboard ISS on Sept. 19, 2012, coinciding with International Talk Like a Pirate Day; as Commander of Expedition 33 she “ordered” her crewmates Yuri I. Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide to join her in dressing as pirates. For dinner that evening, they shared lobster, saag paneer, yakatori, Japanese bacon/pork in sauce and good luck Japanese rice with red beans, and via a video link with family members on the ground Williams virtually blew out candles on a birthday cake. Six days earlier, Williams and her crewmates celebrated her Jack Russell terrier Gorby’s 11th birthday.
In celebration of the 750th anniversary of Italian writer Dante’s birth, ESA’s Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti read from the first canto of Paradiso in a transmission from ISS. The reading (in Italian) was aired at the Odeon Cinema in Florence, Italy, on April 24, 2015. Cristoforetti celebrated her own birthday aboard ISS two days later with her crewmates Terry W. Virts, Anton N. Shkaplerov, Scott J. Kelly, Mikhail B. Korniyenko, and Gennadi I. Padalka.
During Expedition 47, the United Kingdom’s first long-duration astronaut Timothy N. Peake helped to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday on April 21, 2016, by posing in the Cupola with a hand-written Happy Birthday sign and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “Science is Great Britain.” Canadian Space Agency astronaut and Expedition 58 Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques commemorated the 140th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Prize winning scientist Albert Einstein on Pi Day March 14, 2019. To honor Aleksei A. Leonov, the first person to conduct a spacewalk or Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA), on his 85th birthday (May 30, 2019), Expedition 59 cosmonauts Oleg D. Kononenko and Aleksei N. Ovchinin attached signs to the backs of their Orlan suits for their own EVA the previous day. Kononenko’s sign read “Leonov Number 1” and Ovchinin’s “Happy Birthday Aleksei Arkhipovich” in Russian.
Astronaut Sunita L. Williams celebrated her birthday aboard station on Sept. 19, 2012, coinciding with International Talk Like a Pirate Day. As commander of Expedition 33, she “ordered” crewmates Yuri I. Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide to join her in dressing as pirates. For dinner that evening, they shared lobster, saag paneer, yakatori, Japanese bacon/pork in sauce and good luck Japanese rice with red beans, and via a video downlink with family members on the ground, Williams virtually blew out candles on a birthday cake. Six days earlier, Williams and her crewmates celebrated her Jack Russell terrier Gorby’s 11th birthday.
Left: Pavel Vinogradov (at center, wearing bow tie), flanked by crewmates Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin. Right: Several of Vinogradov’s crewmates (top left to bottom right, Chris Cassidy, Misurkin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano) recorded birthday wishes for him. Image Credits: NASA
Expedition 36 Commander Pavel V. Vinogradov celebrated his 60th birthday aboard the space station on Aug. 21, 2013 — the oldest person to celebrate such an occasion in space. He had previously celebrated two other birthdays in orbit, in 1997 aboard Mir and in 2006 aboard station. Vinogradov’s crewmates —Christopher J. Cassidy, Alexander A. Misurkin, Karen L. Nyberg and Luca S. Parmitano — recorded birthday wishes for him in three languages, while Misurkin and crewmate Fyodor N. Yurchikhin joined him in a video downlink celebration.
When not celebrating their own birthdays, station crew members enjoy recognizing other anniversaries. Expedition 44 Flight Engineer Kjell N. Lindgren received a master’s degree and doctorate in medicine from universities in Colorado and celebrated the 139th anniversary of that state’s entry into the Union on Aug. 1, 2015. Expedition 48 Commander Jeffrey N. Williams beamed down a greeting to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 2016.
And finally, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard station celebrated the anniversaries of the unique platform aboard which they live and work. In November 2008, 10 years after the launch of the first element, the Zarya module, Expedition 18 crew members C. Michael Fincke, Yuri V. Lonchakov and Gregory E. Chamitoff recorded a message for the event. In November 2018, Expedition 57 crew members Alexander Gerst, Sergei V. Prokopyev and Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor reflected on the significance of the space station on its 20th anniversary.