Scott Kelly is breaking all kinds of records up on the International Space Station — including the most time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut — but he still has chance to play around in between his official duties. In honor of Halloween night, Kelly donned a rather creepy mask and floated through the ISS, a move you can see courtesy of his Twitter feed.
#HappyHalloween from @space_station! Have a great weekend, and be safe down there. #YearInSpace https://t.co/aRGMsRAF1D
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) October 30, 2015
As Halloween stunts go, it’s pretty effective — and of course the unique backdrop gives it something extra-special. The idea of horrors in space is of course one that’s been well explored by writers and filmmakers for many decades: Kelly’s spooky floating character might just be enough to give the Friday the 13th producers a new idea for extending the franchise.
Kelly’s tweet, like all his others, was accompanied by the #yearinspace hashtag: The experienced astronaut is currently spending close to 12 months on the ISS to help scientists understand the effects of spending extended amounts of time outside the Earth’s atmosphere. If human beings are to make it all the way to Mars (and back), then it’s imperative that we understand the kind of side effects that might be involved.
Within the space of a week at the end of last month, Kelly broke the NASA record for spending the highest number of total days in space and the highest number of consecutive days in space. By tomorrow, he’ll have spent 400 days in space over six different missions, but he still has some way to go to catch the world record for astronauts of any nationality — that record is currently held by Russian Gennady Padalka, who has spent a total of 879 days in space since 1991.
Kelly’s current mission started on March 27 and will carry on until next spring. By the time he returns with cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko, the pair will have spent 342 consecutive days in space.
