Darth Vader, Minions, and Spider-Man: How the ISS Crew Celebrates Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner. This is the prime time for pumpkin decorations to adorn streets and houses and trick-or-treaters do their rounds, as well as for horror fans to binge their favorite scares and don favorite character costumes.

Though the ISS won’t be receiving trick-or-treaters at its main hatch, astronauts are always keen on celebrating Halloween in their own way. Whether on their own or with their entire crew, they enjoy dressing up in sometimes spooky but always creative costumes, usually made from materials available on the space station. For the eve of Halloween, we compiled some of the best ISS looks over the past years.


In 2007, NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson paid homage to Dracula by donning a dark cape. Thankfully, you don’t need to be a vampire to levitate in zero-g.

2007 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

NASA astronaut and artist Nicole Scott applied her creative talents for the 2009 Halloween celebrations by designing a dress with bright festive tassels. In the photo, the tassels spin around Scott as she floats in microgravity.

2009 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

Nicole Scott’s crewmates from the 16th ISS expedition also joined the party by making their own costumes.

2009 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

Italian astronauts are very keen on the superhero theme. In 2013, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano transformed into Superman.

2013 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

For the 2017 Halloween, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli took on the role of Spider-Man.

2017 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

Meanwhile, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik — Paolo Nespoli’s crewmate from the 53rd expedition — decided to become a minion.

2017 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

Of course, there is no Halloween in space without Star Wars. During his 2018 mission on the ISS, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst donned the famous Sith lord suit of Darth Vader.

2018 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

And here’s how the ISS crew celebrated Halloween in 2019.

2019 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

In 2021, Halloween was a more modest affair compared to other years. The reason was pretty mundane: despite the crew’s scheduled return to Earth before October 31, they had to extend their stay on the station due to poor weather conditions. Even though they didn’t plan to celebrate Halloween in space, they still found a way to commemorate the holiday.

2021 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

In 2022, the ISS crew returned to the tradition of dressing up. This time, astronauts gave their preference to video game and comic book characters.

2022 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

In 2023, Jasmin Moghbeli definitely took the prize for creativity by becoming… a breadbox. Her crewmates joined her: Loral O’Hara donned a Colorado-themed hat, Satoshi Furukawa turned into Luigi, while Andreas Mogensen took a shot at conspiracy theorists with his tinfoil hat and Birds Aren’t Real t-shirt.

2023 Halloween celebrations on the ISS. Source: NASA

As for this year’s Halloween, the ISS crew will reveal their costume picks very soon.

You may also be interested in our article about Christmas and New Year’s celebrations on board the ISS.