With all the problems involved in sending humans into the cold reaches of outer space, you wouldn't expect fine dining to be on NASA's to-do list. But at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, scientists are hard at work creating meals to keep astronauts happy and healthy while they're in space.

You may remember astronauts from your childhood slurping their food out of tubes, or eating freeze-dried ice cream, but science has come a long way through the decades.

Today, there are more than 200 items on the menu, each of which is dehydrated and stored in plastic pouches to be either reheated or re-hydrated - the only two ways to "cook" food on the International Space Station.

You may worry that space food tastes like a futuristic TV dinner, but the astronauts seem very happy with some of NASA's creations.

Popular meals include the chicken-pineapple salad, mocha yogurt and the shrimp cocktail with spicy horseradish.

At the same time, astronauts do miss their fridge at home, which is why NASA lets them bring a container of earth food, like instant coffee, hot sauces and Kool-Aid.

Click the next page to see the astronauts "cook" Thanksgiving dinner!

While most meals on the space station are just re-hydrated and eaten out of the bag, some astronauts like to get creative.

Flight engineer Sandra Magnus was famous for "hacking" the station's food heater for some creative meals, including roasted vegetables.

But in space there's a limit to how much you can play with your food. Certain items, like bread and graham crackers, are off limits because the crumbs might damage important instruments.

That doesn't mean you can't enjoy a nice PB&J sandwich every so often - as long as you're okay with using a tortilla.

Space food may never compare to a nice homemade meal, but scientists are improving their meals all the time.

Someday a turkey dinner on the ISS might be the next best thing to your family's back on earth, but until then we'll stick to real food.

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