(November 27, 2008)—Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will share a Thanksgiving meal, but grandma’s home cooking it’s not.
The smoked turkey aboard the shuttle Endeavour resembles sliced deli meat, only stiffer.
The candied yams are bland inside; the green beans taste like they've been microwaved to death, and the cornbread stuffing has a broth-heavy, institutional flavor.
The dinners are irradiated, freeze-dried, and vacuum-packed into plastic pouches, and then launched into space to be served 220 miles above Earth.
The last time a space shuttle crew ate their holiday meal in space was six years ago.
Although there were only six Thanksgiving meals prepared, Ferguson said not to worry.
Astronauts were scraping together turkey from the space station pantry so everyone could experience space's version of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, including the lone Russian aboard the space station, cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov.
NASA Web Site