Space station crew enjoys holidays, preps for busy start to 2015

Taking time off for the holidays, the crew of the International Space Station is preparing for a busy start to the new year, with the arrival of a SpaceX cargo ship next week and three U.S. spacewalks in February to begin work needed to add docking ports for new commercial crew ships.

Space station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore celebrated his 52nd birthday Monday, enjoying gifts from his crewmates, including a bag of Reese's Pieces candy from flight engineer Terry Virts, and congratulatory notes from flight controllers around the world.

While there is no champagne on board to celebrate the New Year holiday in space, "we'll break open a grapefruit juice or tropical punch, whatever we have on board," Wilmore told CBS News Tuesday in a space-to-ground interview.

"And the birthday yesterday was very special, my crewmates made it very special for me, mission controls across the globe made it very special, they actually sang to me, sent me some cards, so it was a great day. Great and very memorable."

Floating in the U.S. segment of the station, joined by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, Wilmore said his New Year's resolution was to pay more attention to experiment instructions and procedures to avoid mistakes.

"One thing you think about constantly is, don't let me mess this up!" he said. "Because there are people on the ground who put a lot of effort into getting it up here and we don't want to be the ones to mess it up. So my New Year's resolution is to try to pay better attention to every step of every procedure so we get it all right."

Launched Sept. 25, Wilmore, a shuttle veteran, has spent the past three-and-a-half months aboard the station. Cristoforetti, making her first spaceflight, arrived Nov. 23. She said her New Year's resolution is to spend more time shooting video to share the experience of spaceflight with the public.

One aspect of spaceflight that is difficult to share is the sensation of weightlessness. While she expected spectacular views of Earth, Cristoforetti said living in microgravity was much more thrilling than she anticipated.

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Space station crew enjoys holidays, preps for busy start to 2015