What's next for the astronauts on the International Space Station, now that they've finished some crucial Christmastime spacewalk repairs on their temporary home? A miles-high look at the home of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, for one thing, they told NBC News' Brian Williams on Monday. “We passed right over the Sochi area yesterday,” astronaut Rick Mastracchio said. “I actually got some great photographs of the area and tweeted some of those.” The astronauts were in good spirits, but they admitted they missed being home for the holidays — though they realized they probably had the world's best reason not to be. “If you have to be away from home during the holidays, there's not too many places better than being here onboard the International Space Station in low Earth orbit,” Mastracchio said, and the view was part of why. “There is not a part of Earth that isn't absolutely beautiful,” his fellow crew member Mike Hopkins said.
