In this photo taken aboard the International Space Station in 2001, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin (left) and astronaut Frank L. Culbertson smile before their Thanksgiving meal. Their food is taped down to prevent it from floating away.
NASA
Pining for some thermostabilized chicken fajitas this Thanksgiving? That's what some of the shuttle Atlantis astronauts will feast on this holiday, which falls one day before their scheduled homecoming on Friday.
Colleagues left behind on the International Space Station, who hosted the shuttle crew for a week, plan a bit more of a traditional meal, with turkey, trimmings and a wide variety of side dishes.
"It's very nice because we have foods from all the partner countries," said Nicole Stott, a space station flight engineer who is returning to Earth aboard Atlantis after three months in orbit.
There's a European mushroom and truffle pate -- "very delish," reports Stott -- creamed spinach and "yummy" spicy green beans.
This year, armchair astronauts can do more than read what's on the astronauts' menu. Charles Bourland, a retired NASA space foodie, spills the secrets of astronaut cuisine in a new book, appropriately titled "The Astronaut's Cookbook: Tales, Recipes, and More."
"I always wanted to write a book about space food history," Bourland told Discovery News. "The editors wanted to do a cookbook."
The result is a smorgasbord of trivia, history and recipes, spiced with a bit of celebrity fare with offerings by Rachael Ray, Emeril Lagasse and other chefs who have developed special meals for astronauts over the years.
Bourland, who retired in 2000 after 30 years in NASA's kitchens, passes along ingredients and instructions for dozens of dishes, including the popular beef with barbecue sauce and the astronauts' top-choice, shrimp cocktail.
The food won't taste exactly like orbital cuisine, which is freeze-dried, thermostabilized or irradiated to ensure purity and long shelf life.
"In the book, we stop before that," Bourland explained.
He and co-author Gregory Vogt offer substitutes for ingredients difficult to buy. The Skylab butter cookies, for example, are made with a glucose product that only comes in 100-pound bags, Bourland said.
The last batch of recipes features space foods of the future, where astronauts would be growing their own foods and cooking their own meals, rather than re-hydrating or re-heating.
"Aside from being labor intensive, I don't think it's be a problem if they have the right way to process the food," Bourland said.
"The meals would be vegetarian, of course," he added.
Bourland's offerings include barbecue tempeh, tofu brownies and kidney bean burgers.
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