Astronauts Feast on Dehydrated Thanksgiving Dinner in Space After Being Stuck for Extra 5 Months: 'Gonna Be Delicious!'

Mar. 15, 2025

Clockwise from top left: NASA Astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit and Nick Hague.Photo:NASA/Facebook

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, Space Station Thanksgiving

NASA/Facebook

The NASA astronauts who are aboard the International Space Station celebrated Thanksgiving in space on Thursday, Nov. 28, complete with turkey, butternut squash and even cranberries.“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,”Sunita “Suni” WilliamstoldNBC News. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”The catch? The food comes in dehydrated pouches that float in the air until the astronauts prepare them and eat them.In a video from the ISS that NASA posted onFacebook, Williams, along with fellow astronauts Nick Hague, Don Pettit,Barry “Butch” Wilmore, wished everyone below on Earth a happy holiday.“Greetings from the International Space Station,” said Williams. “Our crew up here just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family who are down on Earth and everyone who is supporting us.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.From top left: Suni Williams, Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Nick Hague and Don Pettit.NASA/FacebookWilliams, 58, and Wilmore, 61, arrived at the space station in June and planned on staying for about a week.But the Boeing Starliner vehicle that launched them to the International Space Station ran into technical problems, including helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters.Concerned for the astronauts’ safety, NASA sent the Starliner back to Earth on Sept. 7, leaving Williams and Wilmore on the ISS until February 2025 when a SpaceX capsule is expected to pick them up and return them home.Until then, the astronauts are making the most of their time in space.“Thanksgiving is typically a holiday where family and friends get together,” Pettit said in the video. “Sometimes that can’t happen, to physically be around each other, but in today’s age, you can virtually tie into your family and friends.”One of those traditions, Hague said, “is having a Thanksgiving meal together so we’re going to celebrate that tradition up here, though our meal may look a little different.”Handing the microphone to Pettit, Hague opened a container, grabbing at the pouches of dehydrated food they planned on eating for Thanksgiving that floated in front of them.“We’ve got Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apples and spice and smoked turkey,” Hague said in a video message from the ISS, courtesy of NASA. He added, “It’s gonna be delicious!”Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams in August 2024.NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock“It’s true we have much to be thankful for,” Wilmore chimed in. “In a professional sense, I mean, there’s not many places that you can be that you can actually lay on the ceiling. We’re thankful for zero gravity, it’s fantastic. Of course, in a personal sense, our family, our friends, those that are lifting up prayers for us and have been, we’re grateful for that.”He continued, “We’re grateful for our nation, which is a space-faring nation that lets us live free and say what we think is important to say, and so many other things. There’s so much to be thankful for in this season, to be reminded of that, to have a holiday that celebrates that, that’s something to be thankful for as well.”The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!“So from all of us at the International Space Station,” he said, with the other three joining in, “Happy Thanksgiving!”

The NASA astronauts who are aboard the International Space Station celebrated Thanksgiving in space on Thursday, Nov. 28, complete with turkey, butternut squash and even cranberries.

“We have a bunch of food that we’ve packed away that is Thanksgiving-ish,”Sunita “Suni” WilliamstoldNBC News. “Some smoked turkey, some cranberry, apple cobbler, green beans and mushrooms and mashed potatoes.”

The catch? The food comes in dehydrated pouches that float in the air until the astronauts prepare them and eat them.

In a video from the ISS that NASA posted onFacebook, Williams, along with fellow astronauts Nick Hague, Don Pettit,Barry “Butch” Wilmore, wished everyone below on Earth a happy holiday.

“Greetings from the International Space Station,” said Williams. “Our crew up here just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family who are down on Earth and everyone who is supporting us.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

From top left: Suni Williams, Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Nick Hague and Don Pettit.NASA/Facebook

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, Space Station Thanksgiving

Williams, 58, and Wilmore, 61, arrived at the space station in June and planned on staying for about a week.

But the Boeing Starliner vehicle that launched them to the International Space Station ran into technical problems, including helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters.

Concerned for the astronauts’ safety, NASA sent the Starliner back to Earth on Sept. 7, leaving Williams and Wilmore on the ISS until February 2025 when a SpaceX capsule is expected to pick them up and return them home.

Until then, the astronauts are making the most of their time in space.

“Thanksgiving is typically a holiday where family and friends get together,” Pettit said in the video. “Sometimes that can’t happen, to physically be around each other, but in today’s age, you can virtually tie into your family and friends.”

One of those traditions, Hague said, “is having a Thanksgiving meal together so we’re going to celebrate that tradition up here, though our meal may look a little different.”

Handing the microphone to Pettit, Hague opened a container, grabbing at the pouches of dehydrated food they planned on eating for Thanksgiving that floated in front of them.

“We’ve got Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apples and spice and smoked turkey,” Hague said in a video message from the ISS, courtesy of NASA. He added, “It’s gonna be delicious!”

Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams in August 2024.NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

A handout picture made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on 24 August 2024 shows NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams posing for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on 13 June 2024. NASA announced on 24 August that it will return Boeing’s Starliner to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the spacecraft. The Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and make a ‘controlled autonomous re-entry and landing’ in early September. The agency said the uncrewed return will allow it and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home. Wilmore and Williams flew to the ISS in June aboard NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. The two astronauts will continue their work as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025 and fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, NASA added.

NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

“It’s true we have much to be thankful for,” Wilmore chimed in. “In a professional sense, I mean, there’s not many places that you can be that you can actually lay on the ceiling. We’re thankful for zero gravity, it’s fantastic. Of course, in a personal sense, our family, our friends, those that are lifting up prayers for us and have been, we’re grateful for that.”

He continued, “We’re grateful for our nation, which is a space-faring nation that lets us live free and say what we think is important to say, and so many other things. There’s so much to be thankful for in this season, to be reminded of that, to have a holiday that celebrates that, that’s something to be thankful for as well.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“So from all of us at the International Space Station,” he said, with the other three joining in, “Happy Thanksgiving!”

source: people.com

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