"To Thanksgiving. Wishing everyone on Earth, and off Earth, a good Thanksgiving," said Endeavour astronaut Donald Pettit, holding a makeshift cup he had made from plastic covers of shuttle reference books.
Astronauts normally drink from pouches using straws, to prevent liquids from spilling out in weightlessness, but Pettit wanted to show that they could sip from cups. Pettit also made an iced-tea toast to future space explorers and "just because we're in space and we can."
Clockwise from upper left: green beans and mushrooms, candied yams, cranapple dessert, cornbread stuffing and smoked turkey.
The seven Endeavour astronauts and three space station crew members ate their Thanksgiving meal at the joined shuttle-space station complex, 220 miles above Earth. They spent an off-duty morning in which they talked to friends and relatives on the ground or just looked out the window.
"Just that ability to look out the window and look down on this beautiful planet that we live on is a source of thanks that we all have," Endeavour commander Christopher Ferguson said during a series of television interviews.
Differing schedules and chores usually prevent shuttle and station crews to eat together.
The shuttle astronauts had to do last-minute packing before saying goodbye and closing the hatch between Endeavour and the space station
Endeavour delivered to the space station a new bathroom, kitchenette, two bedrooms, exercise equipment, and a system that purifies urine, sweat and condensation into drinking water. All that is needed to double the space station's population to six next year.
Astronauts and the Space Turkey
Endeavour astronauts also performed four spacewalks to clean and lubricate a jammed joint that rotates solar wings in the direction of the sun in order to generate power. The shuttle will bring back astronaut Gregory Chamitoff who lived for six months at the space station.
