--- title: See What Astronauts on the Space Station Will Eat for Thanksgiving description: Smoked turkey with all the freeze-dried fixings canonical: https://time.com/3607861/astronauts-thanksgiving-dinner-space-iss-photos/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-26T18:30:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:09.825Z article:section: Science og:title: See What Astronauts on the Space Station Will Eat for Thanksgiving og:description: Smoked turkey with all the freeze-dried fixings og:url: https://time.com/3607861/astronauts-thanksgiving-dinner-space-iss-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd64b52f193f83247/69876b4a55a8595b25a845cf/thanksgiving-space-station-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: NASA astronaut and Expedition 42 commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore delivers a special Thanksgiving message from the International Space Station og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See What Astronauts on the Space Station Will Eat for Thanksgiving twitter:description: Smoked turkey with all the freeze-dried fixings twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd64b52f193f83247/69876b4a55a8595b25a845cf/thanksgiving-space-station-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See What Astronauts Eat for Thanksgiving Dinner in Space > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=beaca22c-baef-439d-9881-db5c61702a28&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Thanksgiving Message from the International Space Station [Watch (HLS stream): Thanksgiving Message from the International Space Station](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/N21v9jz5.m3u8) (4:28)  _Published 2014-11-26. NASA astronaut and Expedition 42 commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore delivers a special Thanksgiving message from the International Space Station_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 26, 2014 6:30 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 26, 2014 6:30 PM UTC They may be in orbit 260 miles above Earth, but that doesn’t mean the astronauts aboard the [International Space Station](https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2014/11/24/high-flying-turkey-on-station-crews-thanksgiving-menu/) won’t enjoy some traditional Thanksgiving fare to celebrate on Thursday. Though their meal may look a little different than what your family has planned. > [](https://twitter.com/NASA%5FAstronauts/status/537625647053410304) The smoked turkey, corn-bread dressing, green beans, and candied yams that these space explorers will eat have been irradiated, thermostabilized, or freeze-dried. Regardless, the six astronauts on board—Americans Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts, Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov, Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of Russia’s Roscosmos and Italian Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency— are looking forward to their holiday feast. In a video message, Commander Butch Wilmore also shared what he’s most thankful for this holiday: our troops. “People around the globe that are doing things day in and day out that make a difference for freedom,” Wilmore said. “I’m thankful for those people. I’m thankful for their families.” ### PHOTOS: 20 Breathtaking Images of Earth From Space  Aleppo, Syria, May 26, 2013 – The Citadel of Aleppo – medieval fortified palace DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov. 3, 2013 – “Wish,” a large-scale art work DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Utah, USA, April 22, 2013 – Colorado River DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Cuanza River, Angola, April 28, 2013 – Cambambe Dam DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Doha, Qatar, March 4, 2013 – Artificial island spanning nearly four million sq meters. DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Dunalley, Australia, Jan. 6, 2013 – fires, false color image (red = healthy vegetation) DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Australia, April 22, 2013 – Great Barrier Reef DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Gwadar coast, Pakistan Sept. 29, 2013 – new island created by earthquake in Pakistan DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Croatia, Feb. 16, 2013 – Galešnjak (Island of Love) DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Hong Kong, China May 9, 2013 – giant rubber duck DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, March 22, 2013 – Manam Volcano DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Namib Desert, Namibia, May 13, 2013 – Sossusvlie area DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Naples, Italy, Feb. 19 2013 – Mount Vesuvius DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Niger, Feb. 13, 2013 – Arlit Uranium Mine DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Schooner Cays, Bahamas, May 26, 2013 DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Sochi, Russia, March 17, 2013 – Site of 2014 winter Olympics DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Near the city of Sur, Oman, Feb. 13, 2013 – massive “green tide” DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Valencia, Spain, July 19, 2013 – Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Gulliver Park with an enormous fiberglass model of Lemuel Gulliver trapped DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Versailles, France, Aug. 20, 2013 – Palace of Versailles DigitalGlobe—Getty Images  Xi'an, China, Sept. 24, 2013 – Shiyuan Park DigitalGlobe—Getty Images ## Transcript Hello. I'm Butch Wilmore and I am the Commander of Expedition 42 aboard the International Space Station. And I thought I'd take the opportunity just to share a few thoughts about Thanksgiving. This holiday that's coming up in just a few days. And for me I, I, I think me and my family, the first thing we think of when we think of Thanksgiving is, of course, going all the way back to those early settlers when they endured some really rough times crossing the ocean and getting started in an unknown land and an unknown area. And they, you know, they paused and they thanked God for what he had provided for them up to that point, and that's kinda the, the genesis of this holiday that we share today. So that's the first thing I think about. And I think about being thankful as well in that same fashion. There's, there's so much we have to be thankful for in this nation. Freedom of course being the most obvious one. I'm thankful for people that get up in the morning. And they go to do their job. And their jobs. And tell things that means that they may not come back, and I'm talking specifically about our military. People around the globe that are doing things day in and day out that make a difference for freedom and like I said, they get up in the morning. They know their task that's ahead of them and they realize there's a chance they may not return. And they go anyway. And I'm thankful for those people. I'm thankful for those people. I'm thankful for, for their families to sacrifice much for the freedom we have to have a holiday like Thanksgiving. Personally we sit around the table at my home and, and we kinda go around the table and we talk about being thankful and what we're thankful for, and recognize the holiday, the purpose for what it's. For what it's about. And of course Thanksgiving is always about food as well and we share special meals. And, and we have plans, at least I do, for when when my crewmates are here in just a couple of days. This is smoked turkey. So I'm gonna have some smoked turkey. This here is ,. Corn bread dressing. Reheat and hydrate that, that's gonna be mighty tasty. In the morning, I'll be thankful in the morning for breakfast too. This is grits and butter. You don't get no better than grits and butter. I can't get enough of that up here. It's good stuff. And of course for dessert. You gotta have cranapples on Thanksgiving, so a little, I mean sort of cranberries. So I got a little cranberry pie here. So that'll be good as well. And of course I'm from Tennessee, so I grew up drinking sweet tea. So I've got a little sweet tea as well. So we're gonna have all of that up here, and try to share in the, in the spirit of the season. And as we go forward, I look back to the two months that I have been here and the things that I have had the opportunity to experience and, and the people from, from the ground that I have worked with from a far that are you know, processing experiments, doing all the science that we're really operators for up here. I'm thankful for them and the, and the efforts that they are doing for the benefit of mankind. And looking back at the last two months, it's been a busy couple of months, but it's been very, very rewarding. And I, hopefully very rewarding for many people back there as well. And we look forward to doing the same during the rest of Expedition 42 which is, still have got about three and a half months to go with many, many science projects and payloads ahead of us. Several space walks planned some arm operations, many things that are running the whole gamut. So it's a. It's an exciting time and a time to be thankful for being here. And, and, and one other thing before I close. You know, you think about space play, at least I did when I was a kid, and the thing you think about is being weightless, and the opportunity to just float effortlessly. You know, I can, I can do a I can do a. My bat imitation, so I can hang from the ceiling like a bat. And I'm thankful for these type of things that you dream about, literally dream about, and now to have the opportunity to take part in sharing it is special and amazing, and I'm thankful for that. So with that. I say to all of you there Happy Thanksgiving. May it be a blessed day for every one of you. 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