The newly arrived SpaceX crew docked on the International Space Station on Sunday morning was greeted by both human and foreign faces.
Nick Hague, commander of the crew, wore a gray alien mask inside the ISS as his crew awaited the arrival of astronauts Anne McLain and Nicole Ayers, Japanese astronauts Onysia and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Pescov.
As the other crew prepared to deboard the capsule, The Hague was captured in a live stream of NASA zooming around the space station in masks and black hoodies, occasionally stopping and gestures from the camera view towards something.
SpaceX launched crew 10 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday to the station, waived nine members from the Orbital Monitoring Office duties.
Crew 9, composed of Hague, Sunita “Suni” Williams, Butch Wilmore and Aleksandr Gorbunov, will return to Earth as early as Wednesday, leaving the station.
Williams and Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June 2024, when Boeing's Starliner encountered a number of issues that hinder the return, which had been planned for eight days after its arrival.
They were to leave after the arrival of The Hague and Golvnov in September, but the backup plan collapsed due to the lack of emergency pods the space station had for the rest of the crew.
The Hague attitude took over the internet as users visited the comments section, enjoying the unexpected sight.
“What can I say? I love alien masks,” one user wrote to X.
“I knew that!!! Watching SpaceX Dragon Capsule dock live, I got a glimpse of the damn alien wearing a hoodie!!! I knew that!!!” Another said.
“They have a sense of humor there,” added a third post.
The costumes have become a customary tradition for many years, especially during Halloween.
According to NASA, trick-or-treats are not done, but trick-or-treats are not done, but sometimes you have to wear the best (or only) outfit and celebrate the old holidays on earth.
For the past few years, NASA astronauts have dressed Superman, Spider-Man, Minion, Darth Vader, Wald and Mario Bros.
The crew's dragon capsule, named Endurance, was captured by the ISS shortly after midnight ET on Sunday.
Wilmore helped open the capsule hatch and officially linked it to the station and the newly arrived spacecraft.
The 62-year-old astronaut rang the ship bell as the new arrival entered the main station in a single-handed writing and greeted his counterparts with a handshake and embrace.
Williams, who had been taking photos for a fun unification, spoke to Mission Control after the embrace.
“Houston, thank you for tuning this early morning,” Williams said. “It was a great day. It's great to see my friends arrive. Thank you very much.”
The crew of 11 expeditioners, 72, had given a brief lecture with Mission Control, so The Hague was gathered, except for the Alien Mask.
