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Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu?

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What's Thanksgiving like in space?

In a sense, not too different from the first Thanksgivings in America, says NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, commander of Expedition 42 aboard the International Space Station.

After all, the English settlers of Plymouth Colony were pioneers in an unknown land, crossing vast oceans to explore new worlds not unlike astronauts of today.

"The first thing that comes to mind is going all the way back to those early settlers when they endured some really rough times, crossing the ocean and getting started in an unknown land," Wilmore said in a recorded message from aboard the International Space Station.

Of course, not everything is the same. While early settlers may have feasted on wild fowl, venison, corn, beans, and mussels, and modern Thanksgiving tables aren't complete without turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes, astronauts aboard the space station will be cutting open bags of freeze-dried, irradiated, and thermostabilized foods on Thursday.

What's on the space station's menu this Thanksgiving?

According to NASA, the meal will include smoked turkey, candied yams and green beans and mushrooms. The meal also will feature NASAs own freeze-dried cornbread dressing just add water. Dessert features thermostabilized cherry-blueberry cobbler.

Each food item comes in its own vacuum-packed single-serve packet, so astronauts simply cut open the packet and eat right out of it, no preparation or cleanup necessary.

Thanksgiving is often a work day in outer space, but astronauts don't seem to mind.

"People often ask us what it's like to be onboard ISS for the holidays," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said in a 2013 Thanksgiving video beamed down from the station. "Though we miss our families, it's great to be in space. As astronauts, this is what we train for and this is where we want to be."

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Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu?

Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu? (+video)

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What's Thanksgiving like in space?

In a sense, not too different from the first Thanksgivings in America, says NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, commander of Expedition 42 aboard the International Space Station.

After all, the English settlers of Plymouth Colony were pioneers in an unknown land, crossing vast oceans to explore new worlds not unlike astronauts of today.

"The first thing that comes to mind is going all the way back to those early settlers when they endured some really rough times, crossing the ocean and getting started in an unknown land," Wilmore said in a recorded message from aboard the International Space Station.

Of course, not everything is the same. While early settlers may have feasted on wild fowl, venison, corn, beans, and mussels, and modern Thanksgiving tables aren't complete without turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes, astronauts aboard the space station will be cutting open bags of freeze-dried, irradiated, and thermostabilized foods on Thursday.

What's on the space station's menu this Thanksgiving?

According to NASA, the meal will include smoked turkey, candied yams and green beans and mushrooms. The meal also will feature NASAs own freeze-dried cornbread dressing just add water. Dessert features thermostabilized cherry-blueberry cobbler.

Each food item comes in its own vacuum-packed single-serve packet, so astronauts simply cut open the packet and eat right out of it, no preparation or cleanup necessary.

Thanksgiving is often a work day in outer space, but astronauts don't seem to mind.

"People often ask us what it's like to be onboard ISS for the holidays," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said in a 2013 Thanksgiving video beamed down from the station. "Though we miss our families, it's great to be in space. As astronauts, this is what we train for and this is where we want to be."

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Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu? (+video)

Thanksgiving meals in space

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By Calla Cofield

Caption: Cmdr. Barry "Butch" Wilmore holds up freeze-dried cornbread stuffing one of the Thanksgiving food items he and the rest of the International Space Station crew will enjoy this week.(NASA)

A spread of Thanksgiving dishes aboard the International Space Station in 2013.(NASA)

Like most Americans back on the ground, astronauts aboard the International Space Station will celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast: NASA food scientists have created zero-g versions of classic Thanksgiving dishes for this week's celebration.

The American astronauts currently living on the orbiting laboratory 250 miles above Earth's surface commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts as well as Italian-born flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti, will get a day off this Thursday (Nov. 27) to celebrate Thanksgiving. (Watch Wilmore deliver a Thanksgiving greeting in this video.) At mealtime, they'll gather for some "traditional" Turkey Day fare in zero-g form, of course.

The in-flight menu includes smoked turkey, candied yams, green beans and mushrooms, cornbread stuffing and cherry-blueberry cobbler. In addition, the crewmembers may enjoy some personal Thanksgiving favorites. [Space Food Photos: What Astronauts Eat in Orbit]

"I'm from Tennessee, so I grew up drinking sweet tea so I've got a little sweet tea as well," Wilmore said in his Thanksgiving video. "So, we're going to have all of that up here and try to share in the spirit of the season."

The astronauts will likely share the meal with their newly arrivedRussian shipmates, flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev, Anton Shkaplerov and Elena Serova, who got to the station late Sunday (Nov. 23). The Russians do not have the day off, but crewmembers dine together most days. The orbiting laboratory frequently hosts an international crew, and astronauts generally join in the celebrations of their crewmates.

Food aboard theInternational Space Stationis either freeze-dried or thermostabilized (a process similar to canning, but with the food packed in pouches), so it has a long shelf life and can be stored without refrigeration. There are no microwaves or ovens on board the station, so food is heated using warm water. Such storage methods do not work well with all foods, so it can be a challenge to recreate specific dishes.

One Thanksgiving staple, sweet potatoes, may one day be grown in space, NASA officials said.Deep-space missions to Mars, or even more distant destinations, will likely require astronauts to grow their own food. According to NASA, sweet potatoes could be an ideal crop for these missions: They would provide astronauts with energy (from carbohydrates) and beta-carotene, they can adapt to a controlled environment with artificial sunlight, and in addition to the tuber itself, the side shoots from the potato are also edible.

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Thanksgiving meals in space

First 3D printer in space makes debut creation

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International Space Station Commander Barry Butch Wilmore holds up the first object made in space with additive manufacturing or 3-D printing. Wilmore installed the printer on Nov. 17, 2014, and helped crews on the ground with the first print on Nov. 25, 2014. NASA

The first 3D printer in space has popped out its first creation -- a replacement part for the first 3D printer in space.

The 3D printer, delivered to the International Space Station two months ago, made a sample faceplate for the print head casing.

"We chose this part to print first because, after all, if we are going to have 3D printers make spare and replacement parts for critical items in space, we have to be able to make spare parts for the printers," project manager Niki Werkheiser said. "If a printer is critical for explorers, it must be capable of replicating its own parts, so that it can keep working during longer journeys to places like Mars or an asteroid. Ultimately, one day, a printer may even be able to print another printer."

Using data from calibration tests performed last week, controllers sent print instructions from the ground to the ISS. Space station commander Butch Wilmore removed the small plastic creation from the printer Tuesday, a day after its manufacture.

18 Photos

American astronaut Reid Wiseman tweets breathtaking photos from the International Space Station

Some of the plastic piece stuck to the print tray, said NASA spokesman Dan Huot. He noted it's part of the learning process and will be further investigated.

"This is the first time we've ever used a 3D printer in space, and we are learning, even from these initial operations," Werkheiser said. "As we print more parts we'll be able to learn whether some of the effects we are seeing are caused by microgravity or just part of the normal fine-tuning process for printing. When we get the parts back on Earth, we'll be able to do a more detailed analysis to find out how they compare to parts printed on Earth."

About 20 objects will be printed in the next few weeks, all for return to Earth for analysis, NASA said. The space agency hopes to one day use 3D printing to make parts for broken equipment in space - "an on-demand machine shop," according to Werkheiser.

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First 3D printer in space makes debut creation

Lego Batman 3 – Walkthrough: Episode 9 – Space Station Infestation (2/2) – Video

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Lego Batman 3 - Walkthrough: Episode 9 - Space Station Infestation (2/2)
In this episode of Lego Batman 3, we complete the level "Space Station Infestation" with Cyborg and Robin going at with Killer Croc and Solomon Grundy as Batman and Superman complete it for...

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Lego Batman 3 - Walkthrough: Episode 9 - Space Station Infestation (2/2) - Video

First Female Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Arrives At The Space Station

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Italys first female astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was welcomed aboard the International Space Station with smiles and hugs today.

Although Cristoforetti, who flew to the station in an agreement between her countrys space agency ASI and the European Space Agency, has yet to tweet from space, ESA has released a video clip of her entrance onto the ISS ISS

Cristoforetti and her crewmates Terry Virts of NASA and Roscosmos Anton Shkaplerov blasted off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz transport craft late last night local time and docked with the station just under six hours later.

They were welcomed aboard the orbiting science laboratory by NASA station commander Barry Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Yelena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev.

Cristoforetti will be living and working on the station for the next five months, during which the first half of Expedition 42 will set off home and Virts will take over command for the start of the overlapping Expedition 43.

The Italian astronaut was assigned to the mission more than two years ago and has spent that time learning how to control the stations robotic arms and perform all the scientific experiments for her tour, as well as how to handle any emergencies that might pop up. She also learned to fly the Soyuz capsule that took them to the ISS, a hurdle every crew member has to clear, and had to go through a two-week quarantine period before setting off.

According to ESA, Cristoforetti was one of the first women to apply as soon as the Italian air force opened to women and shes logged over 500 hours in military aircraft. She was one of six chosen from 8,000 applicants to join the ESA astronaut corps in 2009.

While onboard the station, her main tasks will be to run science experiments that cant be performed on Earth and maintain the microgravity lab that will be her second home. Her scientific programme includes experiments in biology and human physiology as well as radiation research and technology demonstrations.

She will also be the prime operator for the undocking of ESAs final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the stations largest unmanned support craft. ATV Georges Lematre is the fifth in the series and was named after the Belgian astronome ISSThe space agency announced it would be discontinuing its ATVs back in 2012, as parts for the crafts became obsolete and European member states lost the appetite for the million-dollar spaceships.

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First Female Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Arrives At The Space Station

The International Space Station officially has an espresso machine

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Now that the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft has successfully transported three people to the International Space Station, the space station has an espresso machine.

"'An espresso coffee is what I miss most aboard the International Space Station.' We have repeatedly heard this comment from the Italian astronauts who for 13 years have been at times working in the International Space Station," wrote Lavazza in June. Thus, the Turin-based coffee company teamed up with another Turin company, the engineering firm Argotec, to make a space-ready espresso machine.

Espresso machines typically rely on gravity to get water through coffee grounds, but they don't have much gravity at the space station. So the companies created the "ISSpresso," as it's called, that uses pumps that shoot heated water through a coffee capsule at the correct pressure level, according to The Guardian.

The company claims the espresso the machine makes meets the requirements of being considered a traditional Italian espresso, except the astronauts have to drink it through a straw that goes into a plastic pouch to avoid spillage.

The ISSpresso officially made it into the space station with Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on Monday morning.

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The International Space Station officially has an espresso machine

Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham: Lvl 4 Space Station Infestation FREE PLAY (All Collectibles) – (HTG) – Video

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Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham: Lvl 4 Space Station Infestation FREE PLAY (All Collectibles) - (HTG)
(HTG) Brian walks you through Level 4 Space Station Infestation FREE PLAY mode for Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham. Our Lego Batman 3 Level 4 Space Station Infestation FREE PLAY video covers ...

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Lego Batman 3 Beyond Gotham: Lvl 4 Space Station Infestation FREE PLAY (All Collectibles) - (HTG) - Video

Space Engineers – 80s Inspired Space Station – Workshop Review – Video

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Space Engineers - 80s Inspired Space Station - Workshop Review
You guys asked for more workshop reviews. Here #39;s one for ya! This is an incredible cool, survival ready space station set in an 80s style, designed by SgtStuka. Workshop link: http://steamcom...

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Space Engineers - 80s Inspired Space Station - Workshop Review - Video


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