Christmas delivery finally arrives for space station

The six space station astronauts finally got their Christmas presents Sunday with the arrival of a privately launched supply ship that took an extra month to soar.

The crew opened the capsule a day early and started removing items, as soon as the Orbital Sciences Corp. vessel was moored safely at the International Space Station. Packed inside were 3,000 pounds of groceries, equipment and experiments, as well as eagerly awaited Christmas gifts from their families back home and some fresh fruit courtesy of NASA.

Among the first things out: ants that are part of an educational project.

Play Video

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station plucked the Orbital Sciences' Cygnus capsule from its docking station and released it into spac...

Play Video

A three-man crew successfully brought the Olympic torch to the International Space Station. For safety reasons, the torch will not be lit.

Play Video

Two U.S. astronauts are among the crew that will spend Thanksgiving aboard the International Space Station. Thanks to NASA's team of food scienti...

The Virginia company was supposed to make the latest delivery last month, well before Christmas, but had to wait for reasons beyond its control. A space station breakdown in mid-December took priority, and NASA bumped the flight to January in order to repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost.

Excerpt from:
Christmas delivery finally arrives for space station