Space
shuttle Endeavour's crew of seven American astronauts are spending Thanksgiving
on the International Space Station today, sharing a traditional (well, almost)
dinner with the outpost's three residents and offering their gratitude to those
who got them there through a small, but special payload.
"They
sent us up with enough meals for the shuttle crew for Thanksgiving, with turkey
and cornbread dressing, a cranberry dessert, and candied yams, and... green
bean casserole," STS-126 mission specialist Stephen Bowen described on
Tuesday during an in-flight media interview. "Since then, we've been kind
of collecting food now that we're going to be here with the ISS crew, and now
we are going to have enough food for everybody onboard, which is part of
Thanksgiving anyway, sharing what you have."
If the
thought of a space food Thanksgiving brings to mind squeeze
tubes, think again. This is not your father's three-course astronaut
dinner.
"It
may be called space food, but it is actually very good," added Endeavour's
commander Chris Ferguson. "A lot of it is thermostabilized, a lot of the
meals come from the military and it's food like you and I enjoy at home. I'm
from the Navy and I like Navy food, and I enjoy space food as well."
Don't let
Ferguson fool you, though. There is something missing from his ideal
Thanksgiving meal aboard the ISS.
"I
like the white meat with the gravy, that's my favorite," he admitted in a
pre-flight interview
with collectSPACE.com. Though their menu includes smoked breast
meat, NASA hasn't yet perfected the art of flying gravy.
"It is
a little more challenging when you can't open every thing up in the same way
and put dressings on," explained pilot Eric Boe. "It is usually
bunched together but that is usually how it ends up on my plate anyway, so I am
sure it is going to taste great."
For mission
specialist Shane Kimbrough, it is not about the dressing, but how the turkey is
prepared.
"Just
a fresh one that came out of the oven, which we won't have," he shared of
his favorite kind of turkey. The ISS's galley has an oven, but its more of a
food warmer than it is capable of baking. "I am not sure I am going to get
my wish," resigned Kimbrough.
And though
she said she prefers dark meat, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper was more concerned
about the sides.
"I
like my stuffing," she stated proudly. "I don't know what makes it
special, but I think it is the way I like it. I use bread cubes instead of
bread crumbs. I know some people will sometimes run it through a food mill or
something, but I like the chunkiness. I put celery and onions, and I even put a
little mushrooms in there. I just like the textures in it. And it's mine."
According
to Stefanyshyn-Piper, there just wasn't enough time before the flight to get
her stuffing packed for launch.
Thanks-giving
What did make
it aboard Endeavour were small souvenirs intended to convey the crew's
gratitude for those close to them.
"I
have brought a lot of things for the folks who worked on this mission,"
Ferguson explained. "The first time I flew, I brought the things I wanted,
like the flags for my home school, a t-shirt for my high school. But I have
asked a lot of the folks who worked very hard this flight, and there are thousands,
but the folks who we worked day in and day out, 'Is there anything I could take
for you on the shuttle?'"
"That
is my way for just giving a little back," he shared.
The crew
members, as well as divisions within NASA and its contractors, can request to
have items flown inside the Official
Flight Kit (OFK). Limited to two cubic feet (0.057 cubic meters) in
size, the OFK is flown on every mission as a means of providing a token of
gratitude to the groups that contribute to the mission's (and astronauts')
success.
Boe, who
like Kimbrough and Bowen was making his first spaceflight, wanted to give back
to the organizations that prepared him to launch into orbit.
"From
Georgia Tech, I have a shirt that is going up, and I have a cap from the Air
Force Academy." He also took "a few odds and ends from the units I
was in or programs that I participated in along the way."
Stefanyshyn-Piper
carried items for similar
reasons as she did on her first mission, STS-115, in 2006.
"There
are similar items but they are different. Like on the last flight, I flew a
swim cap for my son's high school swim team. Well this time, I have got one for
his college swim team. And like I flew last time in honor of my father, I have
a small Ukrainian flag."
"Kind
of have to spread the wealth a little bit to give other people the opportunity
to have a flown item in space," she added.
And as the
saying goes, sometimes what comes around, goes around.
"I'm
bringing up my spoon," STS-126 mission specialist Don Pettit told collectSPACE.com.
"It's a Russian spoon and it has this really long handle."
Pettit was
gifted the spoon, which has come to be known as the "Spoon of
Exploration", during his 2002 five-month stay aboard the space station.
Since then, he's taken it with him on his other NASA expeditions to Antarctica
and elsewhere.
"It's
designed for on-orbit use. It's really good for digging down into a deep pouch
that has food in it so you don't get your fingers all gooey," Pettit
described, which should be perfect for the Thanksgiving meal he'll be sharing
with his crewmates.
Read
the complete the manifest of the STS-126 Official Flight Kit, only
at collectSPACE.com.
NASA is
providing live coverage of Endeavour's STS-126 mission on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's
mission coverage and NASA TV feed.
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