Jump to content

Halloween on the International Space Station


NASA

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers

Although no ghouls or goblins or trick-or-treaters come knocking at the International Space Station’s front hatch, crew members aboard the orbiting facility still like to get in the Halloween spirit. Whether individually or as an entire crew, they dress up in sometimes spooky, sometimes scary, but always creative costumes, often designed from materials available aboard the space station. Please enjoy the following scenes from Halloweens past even as we anticipate the costumes of the future.

Expedition 16 NASA astronaut Clayton C. Anderson channels his inner vampire for Halloween 2007 The Expedition 21 crew shows off its costumes Expedition 21 Flight Engineer NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott shows off her Halloween costume
Left: Wearing a black cape, Expedition 16 NASA astronaut Clayton C. Anderson channels his inner vampire for Halloween 2007. Image credit: courtesy Clayton C. Anderson. Middle: For Halloween 2009, the Expedition 21 crew shows off its costumes. Right: Expedition 21 NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott shows off her Halloween costume.

An orange dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween Italian Space Agency astronaut Luca S. Parmitano finally gets his wish to fly like Superman NASA astronaut Scott J. Kelly celebrating Halloween in 2015 during his one-year mission
Left: An orange dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween, courtesy of Expedition 21 NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott. Middle: Italian Space Agency astronaut Luca S. Parmitano finally gets his wish to fly like Superman during Expedition 37. Right: Who’s that behind the scary mask? None other than NASA astronaut Scott J. Kelly celebrating Halloween in 2015 during his one-year mission.

Expedition 53 Commander NASA astronaut Randolph J. “Randy” Bresnik showing off his costume Expedition 53 Flight Engineer NASA astronaut Joseph M. Acaba wearing Halloween colors Expedition 53 European Space Agency astronaut Paolo A. Nespoli showing off his Spiderman skills
Left: Expedition 53 Commander NASA astronaut Randolph J. “Randy” Bresnik showing off his costume. Middle: Expedition 53 NASA astronaut Joseph M. Acaba wearing Halloween colors. Right: Expedition 53 European Space Agency astronaut Paolo A. Nespoli showing off his Spiderman skills.

Expedition 57 crewmembers in their Halloween best Members of Expedition 61
Left: Expedition 57 crewmembers in their Halloween best – European Space Agency astronaut and Commander Alexander Gerst, left, and NASA astronaut Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor. Right: Members of Expedition 61, NASA astronaut Christina H. Koch, top left, European Space Agency astronaut Luca S. Parmitano, NASA astronaut Andrew R. “Drew” Morgan, and NASA astronaut Jessica U. Meir, show off their Halloween spirit in 2019.

Expedition 66 crewmembers showing off their Halloween cards hallowwen on iss
Left: Expedition 66 crewmembers NASA astronaut R. Shane Kimbrough, left, Thomas G. Pesquet of the European Space Agency, Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and NASA astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei showing off their Halloween cards. Right: A hand rising from the grave?

In October 2021, Crew-3 NASA astronauts Raja J. Chari, Thomas H. Marshburn, Kayla S. Barron, and Matthias J. Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA), had some undisclosed plans for when they reached the space station just before Halloween. However, bad weather at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida thwarted those super-secret spooky Halloween plans, delaying their launch until Nov. 11. Undeterred, Expedition 66 crewmembers who awaited them aboard the station held their own Halloween shenanigans. ESA astronaut Thomas G. Pesquet posted on social media that “Strange things were happening on ISS for Halloween. Aki rising from the dead (or is it from our observation window?),” referring to fellow crew member Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Expedition 68 dressed as popular video game and cartoon characters Expedition 70 astronauts celebrate Halloween 2023 Expedition 72 crew decorated the Node 1 galley with a pumpkin in preparation for Halloween 2024
Left: In 2022, Expedition 68 astronauts Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, and NASA astronauts Francisco “Frank” C. Rubio, Nicole A. Mann, and Josh A. Cassada dressed as popular video game and cartoon characters, using stowage containers in their Halloween costumes and holding improvised trick-or-treat bags. Middle: Expedition 70 astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, left, Satoshi Furakawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NASA astronaut Loral A. O’Hara, and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas E. Mogensen celebrate Halloween 2023. Right: The Expedition 72 crew has decorated the Node 1 galley with a pumpkin in preparation for Halloween 2024.

The spookiness will continue …

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By USH
      While observing the Orion Nebula with his 12-inch Dobsonian telescope, a sky-watcher noticed an unusual flashing object. As stars appeared to drift due to Earth's rotation, this particular object while flashing approximately every 20 seconds clearly travels through deep space. 

      The observer wonders whether it might be a rotating satellite or not. However, this isn’t the first sighting of cigar-shaped UFOs or other mysterious objects traveling through space near the Orion Nebula, so it is quite possible that it could be an interstellar craft. 
      Over the years, I have shared several articles, complete with images and videos, documenting similar UFO sightings around the Orion Nebula. You can explore these under the tag: Orion Nebula. 
      Interestingly, these sightings have all occurred between November and February, suggesting there may be a seasonal pattern to these observations.
        View the full article
    • By NASA
      The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 9:29 p.m. EST Monday, on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Credits: NASA Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 31st commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and cargo for the agency are bound for the International Space Station.
      The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 9:29 p.m. EST Monday, on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
      Live coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival will begin at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
      The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock at approximately 10:15 a.m. to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module.
      The resupply mission will support dozens of research experiments conducted during Expedition 72. In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Dragon will deliver several new experiments, including the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment, to examine solar wind and how it forms. Dragon also delivers Antarctic moss to observe the combined effects of cosmic radiation and microgravity on plants. Other investigations aboard include a device to test cold welding of metals in microgravity and an investigation that studies how space impacts different materials.
      These are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Such research benefits humanity and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.
      The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until December when it will depart the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
      Learn more about space station activities by following @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook, ISS Instagram, and the space station blog.
      Learn more about the commercial resupply mission at:
      https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crs-31
      -end-
      Claire O’Shea / Josh Finch
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1100
      joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
      Stephanie Plucinsky / Steven Siceloff
      Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
      321-876-2468
      stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov / steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
      Sandra Jones
      Johnson Space Center, Houston
      281-483-5111
      sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
      Sols 4352-4354: Halloween Fright Night on Mars
      NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of the target surface feature nicknamed “Reds Meadow,” using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. Curiosity captured the image Oct. 31, 2024, at 19:09:10 UTC, on sol 4350 — Martian day 4,350 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 1, 2024
      Yesterday evening (Thursday) was Halloween for many of us here on Earth. My neighborhood in eastern Canada was full of small (and not so small!) children, running around in the dark collecting sweets and candy but also getting scared by the ghostly decorations hung at each house. Little did we suspect that our poor rover on Mars was also getting spooked. Curiosity completed about a meter (about 3 feet) of the planned drive before becoming unsettled … scared, if you will! … when its left front wheel got hung up on a rock and stopped moving.
      Luckily, we understood this kind of frightened behavior and were able to resume planning today as per usual. That meter was enough to give us a whole new set of targets to choose from. As APXS Strategic Planner this week, I had chosen darker-looking targets in the workspace — “Ladder Lake” and “Reds Meadow” (shown in the accompanying MAHLI image) — earlier in the week. I was happy that bumping backwards by a meter allowed us to reach some of the more typical pale colored bedrock at “Eureka Valley” and a second APXS analysis on “Black Bear Lake,” which is a mixture of both pale bedrock and some darker layers. MAHLI added in a bonus set of images on “Stag Dome,” focusing on small, rougher patches on the pale bedrock.
      ChemCam is taking advantage of the short bump, too, adding a passive observation on the brushed Reds Meadow target, analyzed by APXS and MAHLI in Monday’s plan. A ChemCam LIBS target “Hoist Ridge” focuses on a small vertical face of dark material. Two long distance images planned for ChemCam’s Remote Micro Imager (RMI) look at the distribution of rocks along the Gediz Vallis ridge in the distance.
      Mastcam is taking several mosaics this weekend (must have gotten extra energy from the Halloween sugar!). Close to the rover, Mastcam will acquire single-frame images of the targets Hoist Ridge and Eureka Valley, and a small mosaic of some surficial troughs just a little further away. Moving further afield, a small 3×1 mosaic (three images in one row) will image the same area as the ChemCam RMI of the Gediz Vallis ridge, and a larger 9×2 mosaic will focus on the faraway yardang unit, where we hopefully will be in a few years.
      Then for the really big images: Mastcam will image the whole landscape in a special 360-degree view, so big it needs to be broken into two parts. The first will have 43×4 frames, the second 34×5 frames. These mosaics are huge, so we save them for when we are at a really good vantage point to allow us to capture as much detail as possible for science and engineering planning.
      As ever, we continue our environmental monitoring of conditions, with Mastcam and Navcam movies and images looking at dust in the atmosphere above and around us in Gale crater, and watching out for dust devils.
      Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Nov 04, 2024 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      2 min read Sols 4350-4351: A Whole Team Effort


      Article


      4 days ago
      2 min read Sols 4348-4349: Smoke on the Water


      Article


      5 days ago
      2 min read A Spooky Soliday: Haunting Whispers from the Martian Landscape


      Article


      5 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • By NASA
      Bioprinted patches could help wounds heal

      Researchers successfully demonstrated the function of a handheld bioprinter that could provide a simple and effective way to treat wounds in space using human skin cells. Crews could use this technology to treat their own injuries and protect crew health and mission success in the future.

      Spaceflight can affect how wounds heal. The Bioprint FirstAid device tested a process for bioprinting a patch to cover a wound and accelerate healing. In the future, a crew member’s own cells may be used to create personalized patches for treating an injury. The bioprinting device is easy to use, can be tailored to specific needs, has a low failure rate, and its mechanics are electronics- and maintenance-free. This ESA (European Space Agency) investigation was coordinated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

      ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer demonstrates the Bioprint FirstAid prototype during preflight training. German Aerospace Center/European Space Agency Countering post-flight proficiency challenges

      The day they return from spaceflight, astronauts demonstrate significant impairments in fine motor control and the ability to multitask in simulated flying and driving challenges. This finding could help develop countermeasures so crew members can safely land and conduct early operations on the Moon and Mars.

      Manual Control used a battery of tests to examine how spaceflight affects cognitive, sensory, and motor function after landing. Researchers concluded that subtle physiological changes that occur during spaceflight degrade post-flight performance. Subsequent tests showed recovery of performance once exposed to the task, suggesting that simulation training immediately before a task could be an effective countermeasure. Researchers also suggest limiting dual or competing tasks during mission-critical phases.

      A simulator used to test crew members’ ability to fly and drive after spaceflight. NASA Gamma-ray telescope resilient to space radiation

      Researchers found that the station’s Glowbug gamma-ray telescope could perform in the space radiation environment for multi-year missions. Radiation can affect these types of instruments, but Glowbug regularly detected gamma ray bursts (GRBs) during its one-year operation. Studying GRBs can help scientists better understand the universe and its origins.

      Glowbug demonstrated technology to detect and characterize cosmic GRBs, primarily short GRBs, which result from mergers of compact binary star systems containing either two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole. Short GRBs produce gravitational waves, ripples in space that travel at the speed of light. Studying these gravitational waves could provide insight into the star systems where they originate and the behavior of matter during the mergers.

      Learn more about GRB research here.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      NASA Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off in this Nov. 3, 1994, image, with NASA astronauts Donald R. McMonagle, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Ellen S. Ochoa, Scott E. Parazynski, and Joseph R. Tanner, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Jean-Francois-Clervoy aboard. During the 11-day mission, the crew studied Earth’s atmosphere, gathering data on the Sun’s energy output, the atmosphere’s chemical composition, and how these affect global ozone levels.
      Learn more about the mission.
      Image credit: NASA
      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...