ISS Astronauts Celebrate Thanksgiving With Feast In Space

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may not have had a freshly roasted turkey, but that doesn't mean they would miss Thanksgiving.

Two U.S. astronauts in particular, Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren, had the day off from their normal daily duties, which would normally include hours of experiments. They also had the opportunity to eat some holiday "treats."

A NASA video shows how food is prepared in space, and gives an idea how Kelly and Lindgren prepared their Thanksgiving meal: the two astronauts went about rehydrating small vacuum-packed bags of turkey using hot water from the space station. Once water was added to the bags, the bags were placed inside a small metal container that is designed to essentially keep the food warm as it rehydrates enough to make it edible.

Turkey is just one of the treats that our astronauts enjoyed on Thursday. They also had some cornbread stuffing, candied yams, and other holiday favorites.

Not all of the international astronauts had the day off, but they were all able to join in on the festive meal.

Kelly is halfway over his year-long mission on the space station, which is an effort to study the effects of long-term space-flights in preparation for missions to Mars. Kelly has an identical twin brother, Mark, who is undergoing tests throughout the year, allowing NASA to compare the two of them.