NASA astronaut Nick Hague added a touch of humor to the arrival of the Crew-10 astronauts at the International Space Station on March 16, 2025. As the Crew Dragon capsule from SpaceX docked at 12:04 a.m., Hague donned an alien mask to greet the newcomers, having launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida 29 hours earlier.
Floating around in his amusing disguise, Hague wore a mask, hoodie, pants, and socks as the Crew-10 astronauts prepared to exit their capsule. The new arrivals included NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. They entered the station at 1:35 a.m. EDT after the hatches were opened.
The new crew was welcomed with a ship's bell and warm greetings from the Expedition 72 team, following Hague's playful welcome. Suni Williams expressed her joy at seeing the new arrivals, stating, "It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive."
Williams and Butch Wilmore will guide the newcomers through the station's operations before returning home after an extended nine-month mission. Originally planned for just one week, their stay was prolonged due to complications with Boeing's Starliner, which returned to Earth without its crew.
Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are set to leave the station on Wednesday, aiming for a splashdown off the coast of Florida.