Santa Claus finally made it to outer space.
Six astronauts at the International Space Station received a capsule on Sunday full of Christmas presents from their families back on Earth, the Associated Press reported. The 3,000-pound capsule, which arrived a month late, also contained groceries, supplies for experiments, and fresh fruit provided by NASA.
NASA relied on Orbital Sciences Corporation, a Virginia-based private company, to send the Cygnus capsule. The package was scheduled to launch in December 2013, but an ISS system failure and severe weather conditions delayed the shipment.
The astronauts, three Russians, two Americans and one Japanese, opened their Christmas present within hours of the capsule's arrival, the AP reported. The capsule was not supposed to be opened until Monday, but the astronauts could not wait.
"It was difficult keeping up with you today," Mission Control told the astronauts by radio, the AP reported. "You guys were blazing."
Clothing and live cargo- 28 doves and 800 ants- also arrived in the capsule, UK newspaper The Independent reported. Orbital Sciences' first shipment was delayed when the cooling system at ISS's orbiting outpost broke down, the AP reported. NASA rescheduled the capsules' shipment to January while the system was repaired.
Another delay was caused by extremely cold temperatures at the shipment location in Wallops Island, Virginia. Then a fierce solar storm that would have muddled the capsule's machinery delayed the launch again.
The capsule finally left Earth on Jan. 9, arriving at ISS three days later over 260 miles above the Indian Ocean, the AP reported. This was Orbital Sciences' first supply shipment after signing a $1.9 billion flight contract with NASA, The Independent reported. Orbital Sciences sent another flight to ISS in September during a test run.
"I've been up here on station for about 3½ months," ISS astronaut Michael Hopkins told the AP, "and I've seen two Orbital vehicles in that time, and I think that's very impressive. So congratulations to everyone."
