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The space station will host seven crew members throughout the holiday season.
The international crew includes Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Vande Hei, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer.
“We’ll be working but looking forward to an awesome meal together,” Barron said. “We’ll invite our cosmonaut colleagues to join us, so it’s a very international Thanksgiving.”
The astronauts shared traditions they usually share with their families. Chari said he and his family typically go around the table and have each person say what they are thankful for, so he’s going to call in “and do that remotely” this year.
The astronauts usually call home to talk with friends, family and loved ones on holidays spent far from home.
Chari also said while Thanksgiving-themed runs like Turkey Trots happen on Earth, he brought special colored headbands for him and the crew to wear as they run off their holiday meal on the space station’s treadmill.
This year, the astronaut Thanksgiving menu includes crab bisque, roast turkey, potatoes au gratin, candied yams and cherry blueberry cobbler.
“I just want my family to know how much I appreciate their love and support. Even though I’m going to be really far away and moving really fast, my heart is definitely with them,” Vande Hei said.
Holidays away from Earth
Astronauts have marked the tradition of celebrating holidays in space since the days of the Apollo mission, when the Apollo 8 crew famously shared their Christmas Eve message in a live television broadcast in 1968 by taking turns reading from the Book of Genesis in the Bible.
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Source : cnn
