ISS astronauts have fun with many pints of ice cream cargo delivered by SpaceX Dragon, pose in cargo boxes – Times Now

When the Ice Cream Delivery comes to ISS (Photo credit: ESA/NASA/Thomas Pesquet on Flickr) 

Between umpteen scientific duties, the crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) knows how to have fun despite the limitations of space (literally) and restricted movement. The NASA astronauts at the International Space Station got to enjoy a "half-day off" from work on Labor Day (September 5) and boy, did they have fun! French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency captured some fun moments on his camera and posted them on Flickr.com.

Remember, the ISS is in an orbit around the Earth at a distance of 408 km and travels at a speed of 28 000 km/h - making the ISS and the astronauts stay in a continuous state of freefall and therefore feel "weightlessness". The three NASA astronauts at the orbiting laboratory Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur have a few science tasks on their schedules, Dan Huot, a NASA spokesperson with the Johnson Space Center in Houston, told Space.com.

Space station astronauts conduct hundreds of scientific experiments while living and working at the International Space Station. The Expedition 65 crew just received a fresh shipment of science gear and other cargo last week with the arrival of SpaceX's Dargon CRS-23 cargo resupply mission, reports Space.com. Along with bone, plant and materials science investigations, the astronauts also received a special treat with SpaceX's cargo shipment: plenty of ice cream.

You must also check out their pictures on Flickr where the four astronauts are posing inside cargo boxes. "We refurbished the Quest airlock and installed an amazing new deck. Itll be more convenient to stow all our spacewalk equipment Marie Kondo style, and in the meantime, it could serve as a place to nap!!!!"

"Astronaut ice creamDe la glace de lespace !! Elle tait dans un conglateur du cargo Dragon, merci NASA pour la surprise ! Cest en dchargeant et reangeant une douzaine dexpriences scientifiques que nous sommes tombs dessus Merci toutes celles et ceux qui ont t impliqus dans cette aventure glace, ctait notre dernire livraison avant le retour (qui approche inexorablement)."

Wrote Thomas Pesquet on his Flickr account under the pictures he posted of the "tomfoolery" and light fun the astronauts indulged in with the ice cream packages. They looked like kids opening Santa's gifts on Christmas morning.

The translation under the post in French reads its English translation:"Astronaut ice cream! Dragon keeps delivering and thank you NASA for the surprise. Now, on to the dozens of science experiments, we unpacked today before we came across this nice treat (but beware of the ice cream shark, I see it lurking). Thanks to everyone involved in the process! Last surprise until its time to go home (yes, our return to Earth is approaching)."

The journey back home:There are currently seven international crewmembers living and working at the orbiting laboratory. Along with the three US astronauts, the Expedition 65 crew includes cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

All of them arrived at the ISS in the following order: Vande Hei, Dubrov and Novitskiy on April 9 on board the Russian Soyuz MS-18 mission. About two weeks later, Kimbrough, McArthur, Pesquet and Hoshide arrived on SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour with the Crew-2 mission. The Crew Dragon is expected to return to Earth with the same four-person crew in November.

According to Space.com, Vande Hei and Dubrov will stay back at the station until March; their two seats on the returning Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft next month will be filled by Russian filmmakers Kim Shipenko and Yulia Peresild, who will launch on a two-week mission to the ISS on October 5.

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ISS astronauts have fun with many pints of ice cream cargo delivered by SpaceX Dragon, pose in cargo boxes - Times Now