NASA Astronauts Get Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner in Space [VIDEO]

Being in space is no reason to miss out on Thanksgiving Day on. Since 2000, every year the space station crew celebrate the occassion. This year the Americans in space will celebrate the day with a traditional thanksgiving dinner.

The crew members have to be extremely cautious while relishing their meal They have to ensure the crumbs don't float away in the zero gravity. They will feast on an irradiated turkey.

Curious to know what's on their menu? Well, the American crew members will feast on frozen dried green beans, thermostabilized yams, candied yams, freeze-dried cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes without gravy and deserts. This is what the astronauts get to eat from the 200 varieties of food and beverages that people relish on Thanksgiving day. The food is processed and sealed and remains edible throughout their flight.

"We now have about 200 different foods and beverages that are part of our baseline food system for the International Space Station," NASA food scientist Vickie Kloeris was quoted in Space.Com. "Included in those are a variety of traditional type Thanksgiving items. For instance, we have sliced turkey that is thermostabilized - it's in a pouch so they warm it up and cut the pouch open and eat out of the pouch with a fork. We also have some of the traditional side dishes. We have cornbread dressing freeze-dried - they add water on orbit. We have mashed potatoes - no gravy, unfortunately."

Though they get to celebrate Thanksgiving, they don't get a break from their mission. The Expedition 38 crew includes Americans Mike Hopkins and Richard Mastracchio, a Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and three Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin, Sergery Ryazanskiy and Oleg Kotov.

"People often ask us what it's like to be onboard ISS (International Space Station) for the holidays," Hopkins said in a Thanksgiving video. "Though we miss our families, it's great to be in space. As astronauts, this is what we train for and this is where we want to be."

If you want to get a taste of cornbread dressing that is eaten in space, try this recipe By NASA.