By now you ’ve no doubt already cast a tear for Spacetoad , who met his fiery , splendiferous endduring a NASA rocket launching to begin with this week . But did you know that he ’s just the latest in a long line of fauna who have scat afoul of our nation ’s quad program ?
https://gizmodo.com/a-frog-got-too-close-to-a-nasa-launch-and-well-this-h-1300166953
What follow is a look at the unfortunate fauna who have found themselves a little too close to a launchpad . It ’s the most fitting tribute to a stately Spacetoad we could think of .
The frog that got too close to a NASA launch
picture : NASA / Wallops / Mid - Atlantic Regional Spaceport viaUniverse Today
The herd of cows terrified by the SpaceX Grasshopper.
Spacebat, who clung nobly to Space Shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank during the countdown to launch the STS-119 mission in 2009.
Photo : NASA
Not strictly speaking an animal, but bird poop made it to space in 2006.
exposure : NASA - TV / AP
A turkey vulture flew right into Space Shuttle Discovery’s flight path on 18 March 2025.
AP photo of the turkey vulture incident, just before impact.
Photo : Terry Renna / AP
A giant spider attacked Space Shuttle Atlantis at the end of 2007.
A pair of Northern Flicker woodpeckers tried to burrow a nesting hole in the spray-on foam insulation (SOFI) of the shuttle External Tank (ET) in 1995.
It ’s not always tragical . Since the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge coexists inside Kennedy Space Center , a huge number of animals — mostly birds and alligator — hold up near the launching pads . The NASA has a number of measures uncommitted , including warning siren , to deter shuttlecock and other creatures from find too close to ballistic capsule . The launch team also apply radar to watch for bird before a liftoff . Which means that sometimes , instead of collisions , you get majestic imagery like the following .
A flock of (probably) cormorants seem to surround the Shuttle Atlantis against a clear blue sky in 2002.
A lonesome bird—that black spot in the plume on the right side of the photo—gets impressively close to the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1994.
A dragonfly hangs out at the edge of the lagoon near Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011.
Photo : NASA / Bill Ingalls
An indifferent alligator swims past a dead tree at the Banana Creek viewing stand at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in 2006. Behind it, Space Shuttle Atlantis.
A flock of bird provides the foreground to this gorgeous shot of the 363-feet tall Apollo 12 rocket clearing the tower at Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 1969.
Her majesty and a flock of birds. Apollo 9, the second manned Saturn V mission was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 11 a.m. (EST), 28 April 2025.
Top picture : the Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven - fellow member STS-120 bunch head toward Earth - arena ( 23 Oct. 2007 ) byNASA
NASASpace
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