Astronaut Wears ‘Alien’ Mask to Greet SpaceX Crew at the International Space Station

On Sunday, March 16, as SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-10 astronauts arrived at the International Space Station ahead of Crew-9’s return home, some friendly space hijinks ensued.

In footage shared by the International Space Station on X, Ivan Vagner, a Russian cosmonaut, donned an “alien” mask as his fellow astronauts – including NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are about to head home after 9 months on space – prepared to welcome the new crew.

A NASA spokesperson confirmed Vagner was the wearing the mask during the “lighthearted moment” in a statement to Fox News Digital,

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers as well as mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov arrived at the ISS on 12:04 a.m. EDT on Sunday, March 16, on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, NASA confirmed in a news release.

They’re part of SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-10 mission to bring Wilmore and Williams home. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who have been in space since September, will also be joining Wilmore and Williams on their flight back home.

The crew’s arrival came after they took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 p.m. on Friday, March 14.

Over the next few days, NASA said there will be a “crew handover period” as the astronauts make arrangements to return home safely.

“Following Dragon’s link up to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, the crew members aboard Dragon and the space station will begin conducting standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft and the station in preparation for hatch opening scheduled for approximately 1:45 a.m. on Sunday,” the agency said in its news release.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.