False alarm of ammonia leak in the ISS – all astronauts are safe

#ammonialeak #ISS #NASA #ESA The International Space Station houses six astronauts – two of them are Americans, there is one Italian and the remaining three are Russians. They occupy two separate living spaces and, due to the scare of leaking ammonia gas, the Americans and the Italian had to evacuate to the Russian side of the orbiting lab.
However, the ammonia alarm in the ISS appears to be a false alarm as confirmed by NASA. They have said that there was no ammonia leak into the station's atmosphere and the astronauts were free to roam the outpost.
The station, at present, has a six-person crew - two of them are Americans, three Russians and an Italian astronaut. Once the scare started, all of them took refuge in the station's Russian-built segment. Thereby, they isolated themselves from modules built by NASA, Europe and Japan.
Latest information is that NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Terry Virts along with European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian are all "safe and in good shape" with their Russian crewmates.
Incidentally, the ISS has approximately the same living space as a five bedroom house and it has been continuously occupied by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since 2000.

International Space Station astronauts to enjoy turkey on Thanksgiving Day

The orbiting laboratory International Space Station (ISS) located 250-miles up in Space plan to celebrate Thanksgiving Day like their friends and families on Earth – thanks to the food scientists of NASA who have cooked up a zero-g menu for them. Those would be zero-g versions of classic Thanksgiving dishes scheduled for the celebration. The American astronauts who are at present living on the ISS are Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts apart from Italian-born flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti.
They would get a day off on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate the occasion.
As per the program, they would get together for some "traditional" Turkey Day fare — which includes smoked turkey, candied yams, green beans and mushrooms, cornbread stuffing and cherry-blueberry cobbler.
It seems the crewmembers can also enjoy some personal Thanksgiving favorites.
Commander Wilmore is from Tennessee, he grew up drinking sweet tea and he plans to have it up there in the ISS and share it with his fellow astronauts.
Incidentally, three Russian cosmonauts have arrived in the ISS o November 23 to complete the six member team – they are flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev, Anton Shkaplerov and Elena Serova. Unfortunately, they would not get the day off, but usually dine together most of the days. As per traditions, ISS frequently hosts an international crew, and astronauts generally join in the celebrations of their crewmates.
For the records, Thanksgiving has been celebrated in the ISS since the first Americans came on board in 2000. However, the first ever Thanksgiving in space happened on board the Skylab in 1973 – it was the first space station of the US. The date was Nov. 22, 1973, and it had American astronauts Jerry Carr, Bill Pogue and Ed Gibson – but, on that first extraterrestrial Thanksgiving, there was no day off for the astronauts.