NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur celebrates 50th b'day on ISS, shares pics from space party

American oceanographer and National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Megan McArthur celebrated her 50th birthday at the International Space Station on Monday, August 30, 2021. McArthur shared some images from her birthday party on the ISS on her Twitter handle. Read along to know more about how the astronaut celebrated her 50th birthday about 408 kilometres from the surface of the Earth, at the verge of space. 

NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur celebrates her 50th birthday on the International Space Station

The NASA astronaut McArthur has over 50 thousand followers on her Twitter handle. She shared three pictures on August 31, 2021, wherein she is seen wearing a green t-shirt and khaki pants, along with a birthday sachet that says "Fabulous 50." McArthur's hair is floating in the air due to the absence of gravity. In the pictures, she is seen along with several party accessories like cookies, headbands, balloons, pizzas and whatnot. She even mentioned a cake with chocolate candles and unpacked ice cream. 

NASA astronaut Megan was accompanied by other astronauts 

Along with McArthur, there were other astronauts in the party organized at the International Space Station as well, which have been sent as a part of the Expedition 65 crew. McArthur has tagged five people with her post on Twitter, namely Thomas Presquet (Astronaut, European Space Agency), Shane Kimbrough (NASA Astronaut), Mark T. Vande Hei (NASA Astronaut), Oleg Novitskiy (NASA Astronaut) and Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA Astronaut). The caption of Megan McArthur reads "What a great birthday dinner with my Expedition 65 crew mates! My #SpaceBrothers went all out: quesadillas and tortilla-pizzas with real cheese! Cookie decorating! Cake with chocolate “candles”! We haven’t unpacked the ice cream yet, so I guess that means a 2nd party?"

List of first astronauts who have celebrated their birthday in space

According to NASA's website, the first person to celebrate a birthday in space was Soviet Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev, who turned 38 on June 19, 1971. He was a part of the world's first experimental space station called Salyut and spent 24 days aboard the satellite. The first American astronaut to celebrate his birthday, aboard the Skylab 1 space station was Charles Pete Conrad, who turned 43 on June 2, 1973. The website also mentions that "Janet L. Kavandi, the first woman to celebrate a birthday in space, has the distinction of having the first birthday on ISS on July 17, 2001."