What the Astronauts on the Space Station Will Eat for Thanksgiving Dinner

Posted on November 21, 2012

The U.S. and Russian crew of the International Space Station, Expedition 34, will all celebrate Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. The menu for Thanksgiving is a mix of American and Russian foods. One of the departing American astronauts made sure to leave behind a jar of Marshamallow Fluff to go with the yams, which is kind of hilarious. The Russians are going to be mighty puzzled when someone hands them a jar of Marshamallow Fluff and tells them to eat it with their vegetables. Here is the menu:

Entree:

Irradiated Smoked turkey

Sides:

Cornbread dressing
Baked Beans
Russian mashed potatoes and onions
Corn
Potatoes au gratin
Candied, "thermo-stabilized" yams, combined with marshmallow creme

Dessert:

Russian apple dessert
Cherry-Peach Cobbler
Cranberry-Apple dessert

In this video, Commander Kevin Ford shows off the food the crew will be eating. Commander Ford says they add hot water to the plastic food pouches, and after about 15 minutes the food is ready to eat. He assured us over and over that it's all quite tasty. Ford's Russian crewmates, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. They will remain at the station with Ford until December 21st conducting station operations and research. Three more crew mates will arrive then. Take a look:

SPACE