--- title: "Space Station Visitors Greeted With Wild Sight When They Open Hatch" description: "After docking with the ISS, the latest crew visiting the orbital outpost were greeted by a cosmonaut wearing an alien mask." date: "2025-03-18" modified: "2025-03-18" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/cosmonaut-alien-mask-space-station" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "astronauts" - "international space station" - "NASA" --- # Space Station Visitors Greeted With Wild Sight When They Open Hatch ![After docking with the ISS, the latest crew visiting the orbital outpost were greeted by a cosmonaut wearing an alien mask.]() *\Image: NASA\* After docking with the International Space Station, the latest crew visiting the orbital outpost were met with a startling sight. Specifically, Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner greeted them while wearing a cartoonish alien mask. [Footage]() shows Vagner pushing himself into the docking portion wearing the costume. He then can be seen haunting the premises while crew members are preparing to deboard the new visitors. A NASA spokesperson confirmed to *Futurism* that Vagner "wore it down at the hatch so it would be the first thing the Crew-10 crew saw when the hatch opened." "It’s really just like it appeared to be, a quick prank," the spokesperson added. All told, it sounds like a moment of levity — assuming he didn't scare any of the incoming astronauts too badly — to punctuate an otherwise lengthy and meticulous docking procedure. https://twitter.com/justinsluss/status/1901145768376897569 It's a particularly long-awaited mission. Fellow ISS crew members and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been waiting for this moment since last summer, with the pair [stranded]() on board the ISS since June due to [major technical issues]() plaguing Boeing's Starliner spacecraft that brought them there. (The pair have now [departed the station]() and are headed back to Earth.) The hijinx are reminiscent of the time NASA astronaut Mark Kelly attempted to [send a full-body gorilla suit]() to his identical twin brother Scott, who was stationed on board the ISS at the time. The first suit exploded after the SpaceX mission to deliver it to the station blew up in June 2015. A second attempt in February 2016 proved more successful, and a [now-iconic video]() shows Scott Kelly dressing up in the suit and hiding on board the station before popping out to terrify his compatriots. "Of course people liked it," Kelly [told *People* magazine in 2022](). "How can you not like space gorilla?" **More on the mission:** *[NASA Sending Military Personnel to Space Station]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()