Darth Vader and Elvis spotted on the International Space Station
Some 250 miles above Earth, the Halloween spirit is in impressive, weightless form.
After spending 147 days in space, the three crewmembers currently aboard the International Space Station decided to have a little Halloween fun, high above the planet.
European astronaut Alexander Gerst -- who is typically a geophysicist and flight engineer -- transformed into Darth Vader and tweeted a picture of the charismatic crew to mark the holiday.
Meanwhile, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev dressed as rockabilly legend Elvis, while NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor -- a flight surgeon -- donned a mad-scientist's attire.
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"Having a scary day in space," tweeted Gerst.
Space station astronauts and cosmonauts have donned costumes in past years as well. In 2017, six astronauts joined the party, including Wolverine and Spiderman.
But this year there were just three crewmembers playing dress up, after a mid-October rocket failure forced three astronauts to automatically abort their launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.
Fortunately, their escape from the failed rocket resulted in a safe landing. Though, it was a violent, dramatic, and truly frightening, moment in spaceflight.
Mark was the science editor at Mashable. After working as a ranger with the National Park Service, he started a reporting career after seeing the extraordinary value in educating people about the happenings on Earth, and beyond.
He's descended 2,500 feet into the ocean depths in search of the sixgill shark, ventured into the halls of top R&D laboratories, and interviewed some of the most fascinating scientists in the world.
