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Thanksgiving in space: green bean casserole & other favorites on the menu
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At 220 miles above Earth, the nine astronauts and one cosmonaut working aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will have not only a great view for Thanksgiving, but a traditional menu as well.
The crew of STS-126 and the Expedition 18 team aboard the station have so far had a completely successful mission. With four spacewalks completed, the astronauts have fixed the problems with a solar array joint, which now is working smoothly.
They've also gotten the balky urine processor working, and today, using a robotic arm, they packed up the Leonardo cargo module in the shuttle's payload bay. Working not only as home improvement specialists, the STS-126 crew also worked as plumbers, delivering a new, second toilet, and as appliance experts, moving in a long-awaited refrigerator, the first in space.
Tomorrow 's schedule includes some holiday time, NASA managers said. To celebrate Thanksgiving, NASA shipped up several special meals. On the menu: turkey, green bean casserole, candied yams, corn bread stuffing, and a cranapple cobbler-like desert.
But their food isn't prepared like meals on Earth, nor do they taste quite the same. Because the space fliers didn't have a refrigerator until this flight--and that one will be used primarily for cold drinks-- food has to be specially prepared so that it doesn't have any bacteria.
That means dehydrating some items, and irradiating others. Most of the food is sealed in pouches, and either reconstituted with water or heated up.
And then there's the matter of eating in microgravity. The pouches have velcro on them so that the astronauts can stick them to their spacesuits and eat where they are (usually floating around unless they strap in somewhere.) They can use trays, which also have velcro strips for the pouches. The trays then can be strapped to either the wall or the astronaut.
In addition to the Thanksgiving goodies, astronauts also have a wide choice of food items. They are able to select a personal menu before liftoff. Among the most popular items: freeze-dried shrimp cocktail and lasagna.
The Russian space foods include canned items. One of the more popular entrees is chicken with vegetables.
And, they have--chocolate. That, of course, is an essential (according to me, that is.)
Sharing dinner tomorrow will be astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Steve Bowen, Eric Boe, Chris Ferguson, Michael Fincke, Donald Pettit, Heidemarie Stefanyshin-Piper, Sandra Magnus and Gregory Chamitoff and cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov. The astronauts have already begun the Thanksgiving celebration by beaming down a special message for those serving in the U.S. armed forces.
Chamitoff, who's just completed a several-month tour on the station, will head home this weekend with the STS-126 crew. Magnus has replaced him aboard the space station.
Endeavour will undock from the space station tomorrow and prepare for a landing Sunday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Enroute to the ISS: a Russian Progress cargo supply ship, which was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome this morning.
The Progress vehicle is standing in for Santa's sleigh. Packed in among the oxygen, water, and other routine supplies are holiday gifts for the three-member space station crew.
And, just because Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without someone's awful jokes, here's a space Thanksgiving joke.
What does the turkey say in space? Hubble, Hubble. Hubble.
Here's wishing the space station team, and all of you, a happy Thanksgiving.
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