Ice Cream Social on the International Space Station

[LongTomH]

From NBC News CosmicLog: Astronauts have an ice cream party:



SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft had a treat for good astronauts: Chocolate swirl ice cream! Real ice cream, not the freeze-dried 'astronaut ice cream,' which actually only traveled to space on Apollo 7 in 1968.

"It's quite a treat," space station commander Sunita Williams told ABC News during a space-to-Earth interview today. "We don't usually have this type of stuff up here. It's usually thermostabilized or dehydrated [food] that we're dehydrating. So homemade ice cream is something special, and we're going to have a little party."

The Blue Bell ice cream was a late addition to the manifest for SpaceX's Dragon supply flight, which marks the first routine commercial cargo delivery under the terms of a $1.6 billion, 12-flight contract with NASA. Astronauts used the space station's arm to bring the Dragon in for berthing early Wednesday, and the time line went so smoothly that the hatches between the station and the visiting spacecraft were opened that same day — a day earlier than scheduled.

The ice cream was transferred from the Dragon's ultra-cold GLACIER research freezer to the space station's own freezer space in preparation for tonight's dinner. Williams is sharing the treats with Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. NASA spokesman Rob Navias told me today that the ice cream supply amounts to a pint or two — and it's not clear how long the spacefliers will be able to stretch that out. "It depends on how much they eat," Navias quipped.

Enjoy, gang! You've earned it!

[hollysmom]

1. Sweet