Before permanent habitation

Both the envelope and the enclosed Christmas card were carried into orbit and officially postmarked aboard the station on December 25

The letter is not simply a later commemorative tribute to Expedition 1

A personal Christmas message from Earth to orbit

already a veteran of several missions

Soyuz TM-32 FLOWN ISS cover Dennis Tito first space tourist Gene Cernan Before permanent habitationSoyuz TM 32 Extremely Rare ISS Flown Dennis Tito Cover, One of Only Four Produced An exceptional artifact from a defining moment in commercial spaceflight: an International Space Station flown cover carried aboard Soyuz TM 32, hand signed by the mission crew and postmarked in orbit on May 6, 2001. The reverse bears a handwritten certification by Yuri Usachev, commander of the resident ISS Expedition 2 crew, confirming that the cover was flown aboard