To help make the celebration possible, Nasa sent up a “Holiday Bulk Overwrapped Bag,” or BOB, on a supply mission to the space station.
The special bag contained tasty treats such as clams, oysters, crab meat, quail and smoked salmon.
Another astronaut, Zena Cardman, explained that the crew will also have more traditional Thanksgiving foods like turkey and mashed potatoes.
She said that the space-kitchen team “have taken such great care of us,” making sure everything is packaged in a way that won’t cause a mess in microgravity – the state of weightlessness on the ISS, which makes everything float around.
Food on the ISS isn’t like food at home. Because there’s no proper kitchen or fridge, nearly all meals are prepared on Earth and packaged so they are safe and tidy in space. That means foods are freeze-dried or ‘thermostabilised’ – treated so they don’t decay.
“We’ve even got some lobster, which is amazing. So I think it’s going to be a really, really delicious meal,” said Cardman
When the astronauts want to eat, they either add water to re-hydrate freeze-dried meals, or heat the thermostabilized meals. Their trays and food packets are designed with velcro, scissors, and even magnets or straps so floating food doesn’t drift away.