Thanksgiving in orbit: How astronauts on the International Space Station spend the holiday

File photo - The three astronauts currently on board the space station — Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor — enjoy a dinner together earlier in November. (NASA/Serena Auñón-Chancellor)

Three astronauts from the U.S., Germany and Russia are spending Thanksgiving 260 miles above the Earth on the International Space Station.

NASA Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor will be taking the day off in space, according to NASA, as will Commander Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency. The third member of the Expedition 57 crew, Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, will work a normal day on the orbiting space lab, will work a normal day before joining Auñón-Chancellor and Gerst for the holiday meal.

Space.com notes that astronauts’ Thanksgiving meals come in ready-to-eat packets that are sealed and processed with heat, which prevents germs from traveling to space.

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“Tonight we will have a Thanksgiving dinner up here on the International Space Station, covering three continents,” explained Gerst, in a tweeted video.

“We have got every from Turkey to candied yams, to stuffing, to special spicy pound cakes,” added Auñón-Chancellor. “Thanksgiving is a time to spend with those whom you love, whomever that might be, so we will be enjoying this meal together, but then also calling our loved ones back on planet Earth.”

The NASA astronaut arrived at the orbiting space lab in June. She is scheduled to return to Earth with her crewmates on Dec. 13.

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NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency are currently in Kazakhstan preparing for their launch to the International Space Station in early December. The Expedition 58 crew will blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome a Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft on Dec. 3 for a six-and-a-half month mission on the ISS.

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