Imagine a little frog minding its own business leaping around, before suddenly finding itself caught in the fire and fury of a NASA rocket launch.
Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Everyone knows that frogs love to hop and jump, and this poor guy went out doing what he loved.
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This quirky incident happened during the launch of NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission back in 2013.
The US space agency is no stranger to a weird incident – they even lost a load of tomatoes on another space flight.
As the Minotaur V rocket roared to life, a NASA camera captured the bizarre moment a frog was launched into the air by the pressure wave created by the rocket’s engines.
It’s like something out of a froggy fairytale – ‘The Frog Who Dreamed of Space Travel’
Now, before you start feeling too sorry for our airborne amphibian friend, let’s dive into the details of the mission itself.
LADEE wasn’t just any ordinary spacecraft. It was on a mission to study the lunar exosphere and dust around the Moon, equipped with fancy instruments like a dust detector and a mass spectrometer.
LADEE orbited the Moon’s equator for seven months, gathering valuable data before meeting its dramatic end by crashing into the far side of the Moon.
But, let’s get back to our froggy friend.
The photo of the frog being launched skyward quickly went viral, with social media users marveling at the unexpected cameo.
I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed by a frog with aspirations of space travel?
In the end, both LADEE and the frog captured the public’s imagination, each in their own unique way.
LADEE completed its mission, expanding our understanding of the lunar environment, while the frog became an unwitting star of the show, proving that sometimes even the smallest creatures can find themselves in the spotlight.
So, the next time you gaze up at the night sky, don’t just look for a UFO, you never know you might see a strange frog soaring high in the limitless sky.
