Spooky Space: Halloween on the ISS

Corinne Moore, Technical Business Development Lead

3 minute read

[Originally posted October 2023, updated October 2024]

As the first day of Fall rounds the bend, many of us Earthlings are preparing for a series of delightful holidays, most importantly Halloween. While kiddos are picking out their favorite characters to dress up as and grown-ups are enjoying pumpkin spice everything, there’s a handful of people who will be enjoying the spookiest night of the year off-planet. You guessed it, the astronauts aboard the ISS! Just because you’re a hero working on the coolest orbital lab ever doesn’t mean you don’t get to have some fun. Storage on the ISS is always at a premium so astronauts can’t take too much with them, but it’s not a totally sparse experience either. Astronauts are provided a clothing allowance, personal items, and a crew care package. While the personal items are limited to about 1 kg (or 2.2 lbs), the crew care package specifically contains items requested by the crew such as condiments, books, and (you guessed it) holiday decorations. Along with the best costumes (and shenanigans) from years past, we have an exclusive feature for this year featuring KMI pets that also wanted to be part of the fun.

Expedition 21, 2009

Nicole Stott, looking fabulous in her orange Halloween skirt, used her artistic ingenuity to create a jack o’ lantern for the ISS crew with an orange! Sidenote: She was the first artist aboard the ISS to paint using watercolors, which you can view here.

Expedition 25, 2010

While the astronauts of the ISS may be far from Earth, some candies are certified safe for flight. M&M’s have been sent on approximately 130 space missions for both their convenience and lack of crumbs. Other candies that have been flown up for the astronaut crew include: Twix, Milky Way (of course), Sweet Tarts, Snickers, Starburst (we love a good space candy), Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Mentos, and candy corn! What candy would be a must-have for you in off-world travel? For me, it’d have to be Twizzlers.

Expedition 37, 2013

Luca Parmitano, during his first trip to the ISS, celebrated Halloween in style with a pose that Clark Kent would be proud of.

Expedition 45, 2016

While not on Halloween, this famous costume is certainly worth a mention (or even two given that the first one blew up in transit). As Scott Kelly was nearing a year in space, his twin (also an astronaut), Mark, decided to send him a gorilla costume. Why? “Because there's never been a gorilla in space before.” Can’t argue with that logic!

For those wondering what happened to the gorilla suit, it was thrown out on trash day. Per Scott, “I didn't want to be responsible for what anyone else would do with a gorilla suit in space."

Expedition 53, 2017

Even sweeter than a candy treat, Randy Bresnik dressed up as a minion at the request of his two Earthside children Wyatt and Abigail.

Expedition 57, 2018

(Left) Elvis Presley: Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev

(Middle) Darth Vader: ESA Astronaut Alexander Gerst

(Right) Mad Scientist: NASA Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor

Seeing as Serena was the flight surgeon for this flight, the mad scientist gear was right up her alley. Is it just me, or does Sergei make for a pretty convincing King? For fans of Chris Hadfield, you may recognize the guitar Sergei is holding as it’s the same one Chris used to record his version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity in 2013. The guitar was originally sent up in 2001 aboard STS-105 and is a prime example of making good use of resources for as long as you can in space.

Expedition 61, 2019

(Top Left): Christina Koch, NASA

(Top Right): Luca Parmitano, ESA

(Bottom Left): Jessica Meir, NASA

(Bottom Right): Andrew “Drew” Morgan, NASA

Many would describe the ISS habitable area of 310 meters as cozy, but cramped is probably a more realistic word. Either way, let’s hope it wasn’t too difficult for the crew to find Waldo throughout the day!

Expedition 68, 2022

Just two years ago, we had three NASA astronauts (Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio, and Josh Cassada) with JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata dressed as some beloved characters. Hopefully they could find the princess in that first castle!