Monday, December 17, 2018

Special Delivery

How's the food where you work?

I mean, especially around the holidays, a lot of workplaces have ways of sharing great holiday meals. And other places, all year long, people bring and make great meals.  Fire stations are the prime example of this.  Men and women who don't exactly get to punch out for lunch make great meals by pitching in from salad to dessert with a great main course along the way.

Then there's the International Space Station, so far out that there's not even a Burger King at which to dock.

But last week they got their Christmas dinner delivered, and now all the they have to do is warm it up and tie it down so it doesn't float away weightlessly!

SpaceX sent up a Dragon capsule from Florida, and now the crew has  smoked turkey, green bean casserole, candied yams, cranberry sauce and fruitcake. They also have shortbread and butter cookies, and tubes of icing for decorating.  No rum for the fruitcake, I assume.

250 miles above the Pacific Ocean, Commander Alexander Gerst used the space station's robotic arm to grab the cargo carrier from the capsule.  It took two tries, but then, how many times have you had to go through the drive-thru twice because the kid behind the counter was fooling around with the french fry guy and forgot your dippin' sauce?

Image result for Christmas dinner arrives at the International Space Station

Since 2000, there have been astronauts aboard the space station every Christmas. Three of the space station's current residents will be on board (but will have the day off!) for Christmas; the other three will return to Earth this Thursday. 

And hey - just so no one forgets that serious work goes on up there, the Dragon also dropped off 40 mice and 36,000 worms for aging and muscle studies.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Space Mouse!  I can see it now.

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