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The newly arrived SpaceX crew that docked with the International Space Station Sunday morning was greeted by both human and foreign faces.
Crew-9 commander Nick Hague donned a grey alien mask inside the ISS as his crew awaited the arrival of astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
As other crew members helped prepare the capsule for deboarding, Hague was captured on the NASA live stream zooming around the space station in his mask and black hoodie, occasionally stopping and gesturing towards something out of the camera’s view.
SpaceX launched Crew Dragon 10 to the station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday to relieve Crew-9 members from their duties aboard the orbiting observatory.
Crew-9, consisting of Hague, Sunita “Suni” Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Aleksandr Gorbunov, will undock from the station and return to Earth as early as Wednesday.
Williams and Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June 2024, when their Boeing Starliner encountered a litany of issues that prevented their return, originally planned for eight days after their arrival.
They were supposed to leave after the arrival of Hague and Gorbunov in September, but the backup plan fell through because of a lack of an emergency pod that the space station would have for the remaining crews.
Hague’s antics caught the internet by storm as users took to the comment section to poke some fun at the unexpected sight.
“What can i say? i’m loving the alien mask,” one user wrote on X.
“I knew it!!! Watching the SpaceX Dragon capsule docking live I caught a glimpse of a damn alien wearing a hoodie!!! I KNEW IT!!!” another said.
“They have a sense of humor up there,” a third post added.
Costumes have become a customary tradition aboard the space station over the years, especially on Halloween.
Although no Trick-or-Treating takes place, crewmembers occasionally wear their best (or only) costumes they have to celebrate the time-honored holiday from back on Earth, according to NASA.
In years past, NASA astronauts have dressed up as Superman, Spiderman, a Minion, Darth Vader, Waldo and the Mario brothers.
The Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance was captured by the ISS just after midnight ET on Sunday.
Wilmore helped open the capsule hatch, officially linking the station with the newly arrived spacecraft.
The 62-year-old astronaut rang the ship’s bell as the new arrivals entered the main station single-filed, greeting their counterparts with handshakes and hugs.
Williams, who had been snapping photos for the joyous unification, spoke to mission control after the hugs.
“Houston, thank you for tuning in this early morning,” Williams said. “It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive. Thank you so much.”
The 11-member Expedition 72 crew gathered around as they had a brief talk with mission control — Hague sans the alien mask.
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