International Space Station crew gets ready for Thanksgiving with a special message

This week the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving. However, while most of us will celebrate around the table, feet firmly planted on the ground, astronauts on the International Space Station will also gather around a table for a truly international celebration.

On Monday, NASA’s Johnson Space Center released a video featuring NASA and ESA astronauts from Expedition 66. The crew answered what Thanksgiving means to them in the video, and previewed what they will feast on later this week.

What will the ISS crew eat for Thanksgiving?

While many of us will experience the frenzy of kitchen activities on Thursday to prepare traditional dishes like turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and more, in space, the preparations will take way less time.

All the food on the ISS requires just water for rehydration. Astronauts can add hot water for meals that require heating and regular drinking water for others. The Expedition 66 crew shared what their Thanksgiving meals will look like, with Kayla Barron having Crab Bisque and SpaceX Crew-3 commander Raja Chari getting the coveted roasted turkey in their meal kits.

What do astronauts do on Thanksgiving?

Sending humans to live and work in space is not cheap, and many experiments still need to be done. So down here on Earth we might have the day off to celebrate, but the crew on the ISS will continue to work and conduct important research.

Chari did mention we might see fun color headbands for the crew when they compete in an orbital version of a “Turkey Trot.”

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