ISS Crew Celebrates Thanksgiving Space-Style -- Here's What They'll Eat

Thanksgiving is celebrated all around the world and apparently even in space. NASA astronauts will celebrate thanksgiving aboard the International Space Station (ISS) with a dinner not far from what people are having on Earth.

One thing that's still amusing to many in terms of long-term living in space is the concept of food. Space food has the reputation of being boring but the preparation and preservation in interesting because the food needs to adapt to the environment. This is the reason why the thanksgiving feast for astronauts aboard the ISS is quite a different story from thanksgiving on Earth.

But this year NASA attempted to make it close to home, commander Shane Kimbrough said they will cook up a feast in space on thanksgiving.

The crew will get to taste their own mashed potatoes, dehydrated cornbread dressing, beans, mushroom, dessert cobbler and even turkey. But the only thing is that, the food will come in space-friendly pouches. "I'm going to try to make it as much like home as we can," Shane Kimbrough said in a statement.

NASA released a thanksgiving message from the ISS last Monday, Nov. 21. "We have some dehydrated food as well, but its gonna make the thanksgiving meal much more special to simulate being at home with our family," ISS commander Shane Kimbrough said in the video.

This year's thanksgiving is more interesting since NASA's Human Spaceflight Program with the help of Space Food Research Facility attempted to provide more Earth-like food items for the ISS crew. After the thanksgiving dinner, the crew will also indulge and watch a game of football.

However, unlike thanksgiving on Earth, the NASA ISS crew was not granted with a thanksgiving holiday, according to Commander Kimbrough.Astronaut Peggy Whitson, the oldest female crew to reach the ISS, will be celebrating her third thanksgiving in space, while commander Kimbrough will celebrate his second. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Thomas Pesquet will be joining the Americans and the rest of the crew for the thanksgiving dinner. This will also be Pesquet's first thanksgiving in space.

Most of the out-of-this-world entrée would require some level of heating and hydration. The meal will be capped off with a sweet tea in a space drinking pouch as well.