Real-life Astronaut Cosplays as Battlestar Galactica's Starbuck in Space

By Russ Burlingame

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, on her second visit to the International Space Station, took some time out to chat with fans attending the German science fiction convention FedCon. Of course, she did so while dressed as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica -- because let's be honest, who wouldn't, given a chance? Cristoforetti previously cosplayed as Star Trek's Captain Janeway during a 2015 visit to the ISS. Back in June, she dressed as Gravity's Dr. Stone, the character played by Sandra Bullock. As someone who takes cosplay seriously down on Earth, the ability to show off some of her creations on the ISS is undoubtedly a rare experience.

FedCon took place in Germany in early June, and Cristoforetti broadcast a signal to the convention, talking about life in space. On Thursday, ESA released the video on YouTube.

You can see it below.

Cristoforetti is of course cosplaying as the modern version of Starbuck, played by Katee Sackhoff beginning in 2004. The series ran for 4 seasons, but also had some follow-up movies on he Sci-Fi Channel. It was an adaptation of a series from the 1970s. Themed to the Starbuck cosplay, Cristoforetti also shared a BSG-themed poster featuring herself and other astronauts, which you can see below.

In response, Sackhoff tweeted, "We finally know what happened to Starbuck! This is so Frakin cool!"

This time around, Cristoforetti arrived with the SpaceX Crew-4 mission in late April and could be in orbit for up to six months.

While the world is no longer in the place where astronauts are celebrities merely for being astronauts, there are some who have found fame by taking this incredibly serious and dangerous job, and having a little personality and fun with it. Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is one of the classic examples, having made pop culture headlines numerous times during his career, and embracing his celebrity and nerd cred now that he's back on terra firma.

Sackhoff has also had similar bits of silly viral fun, one time having a drink -- at a Starbucks -- along with Dirk Benedict, who played the original Starbuck on the 1970s Battlestar.

That series is supposedly getting a third life soon at Peacock. The new version is supposedly not a reboot, but since 2019, all we have heard is a few rumors.

Battlestar Galactica brought the space opera genre, having been recently made popular by the release of the original Star Wars into theaters, to television sets. The series chronicled the Twelve Colonies of Mankind and their long war against the robot race known as Cylons. When the Cylons ended the war with a sneak attack that destroyed the colonies' homeworlds, the last remaining capital warship, the Battlestar Galactica, was forced shepherd what remained of humanity on a search for the lost Thirteenth Colony, Earth.

The short-lived series was rebooted for a new generation by Star Trek alum Ronald D. Moore in 2003. Moore wrote and produced a two-part miniseries for Syfy. The miniseries was a backdoor pilot that proved successful enough for Syfy to launch a full ongoing series from it in 2004. That series ran for four seasons and remains one of Syfy's most successful original programs in its history. The show's cast included Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, and Grace Park. That series spawned the single-season prequel Caprica and the web series Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, which was later recut as a TV movie.

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