Ground controllers then began to hear the strains of none other than “Jingle Bells,” being played by the astronauts on a harmonica backed by miniature sleigh bells. Today, those bells and ...

A little more than 56 years ago, on Dec. 16, 1965, an Air Force pilot named Thomas Stafford and a Navy pilot named Wally Schirra played the Christmas anthem ‘Jingle Bells’ on a harmonica and ...

The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of “Jingle Bells.” So, is this song that’s out of this world actually a song of the South?

It was later renamed "Jingle Bells" as a result ... At the time, the crew of Gemini 6 played the song with bells and a harmonica they managed to sneak onboard the spacecraft.

National Air and Space Museum Then ground controllers heard the strains, both familiar and otherworldly, of "Jingle Bells," played on a harmonica backed by—what else?—miniature sleigh bells.

His fellow astronaut Wally Schirra pulled out a Hohner “Little Lady” harmonica, and began to play a tinny rendition of “Jingle Bells.” From humble origins in the workshops of 19th-century ...

The next thing heard at Mission Control was a rendition of Jingle Bells performed by the astronauts using instruments which they had smuggled onboard. The harmonica and string of bells used are ...

On December 16, 1965, 'Jingle Bells' made history as the first song ever played in outer space when the crew of Gemini 6 included it in their celestial repertoire using bells and a harmonica they ...

On Christmas Eve, in 1965, astronauts played the carol Jingle Bells with a harmonica and bell. Even though a few other musical instruments were flown into space after this, it was still a rare ...