Thanksgiving, which is on November 23, is quite an important holiday for the entire United States. While all the Americans celebrate the holiday with their beloved families, some people will just stay out of touch from all the enjoyments, such as the crewmembers of Expedition 53 aboard the International Space Station.
Despite staying in space, the astronauts did find some time from their busy schedule to celebrate the holiday. They shared some amazing moments, which they had spent with their families on Thanksgiving over the years, on social media. Added to that they also delivered their messages through a video, which has been published on the YouTube channel of NASA Johnson Space Center.
"What we have really enjoyed in a warmer climate, in Houston, is moving our dining room table out onto the sidewalk, and having Thanksgiving outside with our neighbors, which has been a lot of fun," said flight engineer Mark Vande Hei, who is currently there in International Space station on his very first space mission.
While speaking of his childhood, Vande Hei said that his mother used to cook up turkey along with cranberry sauce on this holiday. However, it was always the pumpkin pies that stood out for him. "I could usually eat [it] for breakfast over the next three days," added Vande Hei.
On the other hand, the celebration was a tad bit different for Joe Acaba on Earth, another flight engineer on the Expedition 53. "Our cranberry sauce still had the lines from the can. Our stuffing was made out of meat, so we had more meat stuffing inside of the turkey. For some reason, we had shrimp cocktail, and that was one of my favorite parts. Maybe that's traditional, but I don't see it too often," recalled Acaba.
The commander of the space station, Randy Bresnik also stated how he spends Thanksgiving at home. Bresnik usually enjoys his holiday with family and friends. "My wife cooks up the most amazing dinner, and we have any family that might be in town, or friends, or people from our church that come on over," added Bresnik.
Expedition 53 is the second spaceflight of Randy Bresnik. During his first mission in space, in 2009, his daughter Abigail Mae Bresnik was born. Bresnik also shared a picture of his daughter on Twitter.
Right before the Thanksgiving, the crew examined the Bigelow Expandable Aerospace Module, an inflatable room that is currently undergoing tests in space. The Expedition 53 crew also underwent vision tests, as NASA astronauts had witnessed certain complications with their eyes in the past.
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