The three crew members on the International Space Station plan to have their own Thanksgiving feast on Thursday as they orbit 352 kilometers above the earth. The lone American on board plans to share some traditional holiday fare with his two Russian crew mates.
It is hard to be away from home on a holiday, especially if are far away in space.
But Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank still plans to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner .
“Let's see. Well, we are going to have some smoked turkey, home style potatoes, cornbread dressing...,“ he said.
Burbank will share it with his two companions, Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin.
Veteran astronaut Clay Anderson says eating in orbit poses challenges.
“If you take a package like this and we have re-hydrated the cornbread dressing, you can kind of see some of it is squeezing out of the top. It is very sticky and very gooey, so that it does not flake off and fly away from you, so you can actually put it on your spoon and it will stick together and it is a lot of fun to eat,” Andereson said.
Commander Burbank says Thanksgiving in space is more than just Thanksgiving dinner.. “We are going to be real thankful for the opportunity we have to fly aboard this magnificent space station and we are going to be thankful for the love and the support of all the folks we have back home,” Burbank said.
And people enjoying Thanksgiving on Earth can look skyward and salute the Space Station crew.