Astronaut Celebrates Easter in Space (Easter Eggs, Included)

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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield brought six Easter eggs filled with treats for the Expedition 35 crew of the International Space Station.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Expedition 35 commander, shows the six Easter eggs he packed for his six-man International Space Station crew in a photo posted to Twitter on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013. (Image credit: Canadian Space Agency/Chris Hadfield (Cmdr_Hadfield))

Children around the world aren't the only ones having an Easter egg hunt today. Astronauts in space will get Easter treats, too.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who commands the International Space Station, made sure that the Easter Bunny would make a special trip to the orbital lab today (March 31) just in time for an Easter celebration in space.

"Good Morning, Earth! A fine Easter Sunday morning to you from the crew of the International Space Station," Hadfield wrote in a post on Twitter, where he is chronicling his mission under the name @Cmdr_Hadfield.

Hadfield snapped a sunrise photo of Earth on Easter showing the sun glinting off the Great Lakes in North America this morning to mark the occasion. Then he revealed his Easter secret.

"Don't tell my crew, but I brought them Easter Eggs :)," Hadfield wrote as he posted a photo of his space Easter treats. [Astronaut Chris Hadfield's Amazing Space Photos]

In the photo, six large plastic Easter eggs — each a different color —float inside a plastic bag while Hadfield presses a finger to his lips in a "Shh" gesture.

This Easter Sunday sunrise photo taken by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station shows the Great Lakes region of North America on March 31, 2013. (Image credit: Canadian Space Agency/Chris Hadfield (Cmdr_Hadfield))

Hadfield's Expedition 35 crew includes himself, two Americans and three Russians. Three crewmembers, American astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, just arrived at the station on Thursday (March 28).

Astronauts in space have a long tradition of spending holidays in space dating back decades to the early days of human spaceflight, when NASA astronauts celebrated Christmas orbiting the moon during the 1968 Apollo 8 mission.

Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's Day and other traditional holidays from Russia and other space station partner countries have been celebrated in space since the first crew took up residence in the orbiting laboratory in 2000. The space station has been manned by rotating crews ever since.

Hadfield has shown a dedication to marking holidays off the planet. In March, he donned a green shirt and bowtie for St. Patrick's Day, and in February he wore a heart headband for Valentine's Day and a funny hat and necklace for Mardi Gras.

Hadfield and two Expedition 35 crewmates — NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko — are due to return to Earth in May. They have been living on the space station in since mid-December.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.