Cue The Aww: Astronaut Puts 3-Year-Old Son’s Drawing On A Quilt Piece

Kids’ drawings are the best, as astronaut Karen Nyberg proudly shows in her latest mini-quilt piece. The astronaut — who just spent six months in orbit during Expedition 36/37 — is also a prolific quilter and drew inspiration from her son, three-year-old Jack, in this quilt posted on Pinterest. The drawing shows how quickly Jack changed during her mission, she wrote.

“When I left for space station in May, my son was drawing only lines, circles, and squiggles. When I returned in November, he was drawing people. He told me this picture is ‘Jack playing in the grass on a sunny day.’ ”

We’re guessing Nyberg is having an easier time quilting now that she isn’t working in microgravity anymore. The video below explains the challenges she had doing quilting in orbit and making sure that sharp pins didn’t just float away and cause problems on station.

Nyberg is married to astronaut Doug Hurley (who piloted the final shuttle mission, among other things) and as the Houston Chronicle’s Eric Berger points out in November, the parents have lots of experience helping each other out with child care during training and missions.