By the time the shoppers hit the Black Friday sales early Friday morning, stories about Thanksgiving dinner adventures will invade website all over the world. Thanksgiving is the day we give thanks for being alive. And for beginning to realize there is a lesson in every one of our experiences. But the real meaning of Thanksgiving for millions of Americans is a day off and meal that has a long history behind it.
But Thanksgiving is not just about eating and watching football. Thanksgiving is really all about family. It’s the day when families come together and create those great stories that hit the websites the next day. Every dinner table is a reality show without the cameras. But it’s not just blood families that come together and stuff as much food as they can down their esophagus in less than 30 minutes. Work and school families gather, and so do two member families who enjoy the peace they perceive.
There’s another family celebrating Thanksgiving this year. The adventuresome and courageous astronauts, sitting in the International Space Station, 240 miles above Earth, have plans for turkey day. But those plans are George Jetson space-style worthy eating and resting plans. European Space Agency Commander Alexander Gerst, Serena Auñón-Chancellor, the ASA Flight Engineer and Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev will have their Thanksgiving meal in ready-to-eat-packets. The packets are space friendly thanks to the heat sealing process that keeps the germs from beating humans to Mars.
Serena Auñón-Chancellor sent a note back to Earth and she let everyone know they didn’t forget to pack the yams and dressing. But she didn’t mention if her packet of turkey was white meat or dark. And she didn’t say what kind of spice the spicy pound cake package tasted like. Thanksgiving is a long day in the life of astronauts.
