Christmas is the time to gather around the digital hearth and watch the Yule log. While the ritual of burning an actual Yule log is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years, if you ask people nowadays about Yule logs, the image of the TV version first comes to mind. Since the days of traditional television, the Yule log has gone through some interesting variations, like the one released by NASA this year.
Digital or film is the primary medium through which people know of Yule logs. The rocket-fueled yuletide of NASA has a regional NYC origin. The first televised Yule log program was aired by WPIX 11, a TV station in New York City in 1966. It was a way to broadcast on Christmas Eve, a time that was generally difficult to fill with content. WPIX 11 filmed the first Yule log in NYC’s Gracie Mansion, the residence of the mayor. A short seventeen-second film of a fireplace, ornate and surrounded by presents, was put on loop and aired for hours to the tunes of Christmas songs sung by Nat King Cole or Percy Faith. The Yule log hit two birds with one stone — it allowed New Yorkers, who lived in fireplace-less apartments, a chance to feel warm and cozy, and it also allowed people at the TV station to be home with their families on the holiday.
In the 1970s, the now deteriorating 1966 film was replaced with a longer, almost seven-minute loop shot at a mansion’s burning Yule log in California. This film was used year after year, winning over the Christmastime slot for nearly two decades until 1989. By the 1990s, hours of Yule log footage was deemed too expensive to have without commercials, and TV executives sacked the program. Yet, after a petition by viewers in the early 2000s, the Yule log program came back on air and was broadcasted for a longer four-hour period.
Since then Yule logs on TV sprouted up across the nation and after the dawn of the internet and social media, became a digital tradition as well. There have been a variety of spin-offs from the WPIX 11 Yule log, like this recent one from NASA. The space agency gave the Christmas classic a fun twist — instead of the tried-and-true wood, the Yule log was replaced by four RS-25 rockets, paying homage to the Artemis I mission back in 2022. The American space organization states in their video’s description — “Technically, this fireplace packs the heat of the SLS rocket’s four RS-25 engines and a pair of solid rocket boosters – just enough to get you to the Moon! (And get through the holidays with your in-laws.).”
Just like the original Yule log, the fire is set in a scene of a cozy fireplace hearth, framed with pillows and books. The rocket’s engine roar is paired with the traditional cracking of an actual Yule log fire. While many online viewers didn’t like the quality of the surrounding images, a lot enjoyed it as an out-of-this-world variety. The video, which is eight hours long, adds a comical and light variation to the array of digital Yule logs for the holiday season.