back to article Cold-blooded, INHUMAN visitor hitches ride on NASA moon rocket

Recently released footage has revealed that an unexpected traveler hitched a ride during the launch of NASA's LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) rocket last Friday. A dramatic photo published to the space agency's Instagram feed on Thursday depicts LADEE hurtling into the sky atop a column of flame – and …

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  1. Tempest8008

    I can see the Reddit posts already

    My "meme-o-metre" is going crazy!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Great disguise for an alien....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I can see the Reddit posts already

      > My "meme-o-metre" is going crazy!

      Unless you have a 100cm device for detecting memes, I presume that would be a meme-o-meter :)

      And why is the headline "hitches ride on... rocket" when it clearly didn't?

    3. Vociferous

      Re: I can see the Reddit posts already

      Countdown to photoshop of Nic Cage's head on the frog in 3... 2... 1...

    4. Zot

      Re: I can see the Reddit posts already

      'Reddit, reddit, reddit!" *melt*

      1. Esskay
        Coat

        Re: I can see the Reddit posts already

        Check out the rocket launch, they said.

        It'll be fun, they said.

  2. Roger B
    Thumb Up

    I know Miss Piggy gets a bit over bearing at times Kermit, but trying to hitch a lift to the moon for some peace and quiet is a little extreme!

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      Happy

      Pigs In Spaaaace!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Am I the first...

    to think of something green going into space and then the word "Kerbal"?

  4. Yet Another Commentard

    The Far Side

    Life imitating art, close enough.

  5. bazza Silver badge

    OK, I'll jump

    One small jump for a frog, one giant leap for anurankind...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One happened to die so many could live

    Poor little croaker - was in exactly the wrong place at precisely the wrong time.

    All his buddies, however, are VERY well protected. I'm just a few miles from KSC in Florida, which is 219 square miles (570 km sq) surrounded by high fences and is a national security area. The wildlife there is amazing - nobody comes in to hunt or otherwise bother the gators, deer, or anything else. After all, if someone enters the KSC grounds carrying a rifle, they're likely to be met by F-16s and Apache attack helicopters. Saying they were just hunting wild pigs isn't going to get them off the hook, either.

    KSC takes security *very* seriously, and the wildlife benefits greatly.

    (Yeah, I know this was at Wallops Island, Virginia, but the same security applies there.)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: One happened to die so many could live

      if someone enters the KSC grounds carrying a rifle, they're likely to be met by F-16s and Apache attack helicopters

      Sounds like the perfect place for a school...

      1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

        Re: One happened to die so many could live

        I happen to know of areas that are even more heavily secured with the listed weapons and more that have schools on them.

        They're called military installations.

        They also have heavy restrictions on who can carry what weapon where.

        Such as only the military police can rove about carrying firearms. Training military are only armed in the training areas, far from the habitation and administrative areas of the installation.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: One happened to die so many could live

          Given what happened in Washington after you posted this i think I will stick with NASA for now.

    2. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: One happened to die so many could live

      As I recall, they also have secondary fences in place to keep the larger wildlife away from the operational areas, such as the assembly building, roadway to the launch pads, the launch pads, etc.

      But, fences only work against larger wildlife, birds fly over and frogs swim and jump through or under.

      Still, with those large eardrums, it *had* to have heard the warnings, then the countdown... ;)

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    So if pictures from LADEE are disappointing....

    It's because the camera lenses are all frogged up??

  8. Don Jefe

    That is clearly a Jihadi parachutist. Likely his mission was to hijack the rocket and use it in a Hating Freedom offensive. Due to an unexpected security delay at Dulles he missed his Glorious Mission commuter connection and had to take a later flight. A flight that was too late.

  9. Simon Harris

    Communicating with the rocket via Kermit?

    That's so 1980s!

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: Communicating with the rocket via Kermit?

      Wow! You are ancient!

      I thought that *I*, one of the last ancients was the only one to remember kermit, how to initiate a transfer, etc. ;)

      Footnote (bootnote):

      Yes, I really *am* older than dirt. I was with the Celestial Engineer Corps on the first Great Earth Dirt Delivery Project.

      At least it feels that way in the morning.

    2. Paul Crawford Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Communicating with the rocket via Kermit?

      Damn, I forgot I was that old

  10. keno

    Maybe he made it to the moon

    One small step for man, one giant leap for frogkind

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: Maybe he made it to the moon

      Nah. It as a tea party frog, who was overheard to exclaim, "They ain't interferin with *my* liberties with those BS warnings! I have a *right* to be where my tax dollars are wasted!"

      It also rambled on about second amendment rights and remedies, waved around a cheap AR-15 for a bit.

      Reports are that the AR vaporized when struck by sunlight.

      Or maybe it was superheated water from the main engine.

  11. SD2112

    Ouch

    Once you pass the Kermit point, there's no going back....

  12. Mr Young
    Coffee/keyboard

    Miss Piggy?

    Did she slap him with a rocket taking off in the background for the not selfie photo? Get forensics on the case right now!

  13. Chris 244
    Flame

    Poikilothermic not cold-blooded

    I seriously doubt this particular frog at this particular moment was cold-blooded.

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: Poikilothermic not cold-blooded

      Doubt that it was hot blooded.

      It was in a classic falling frog stance.

      Seriously.

      That is how frogs spread out when falling.

  14. Dorkus Mundus

    Finally a clear and convincing image as evidence of the long rumored connection between "reptoids" and the US government space program. Busted!

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      FAIL

      amphibious

  15. willi0000000

    Crunchy Frog!

    certainly.

  16. stucs201

    Rocket is pointed the wrong way

    As any Quake player knows its more normal to point the rocket at the ground when doing rocket jumps.

  17. DvorakUser

    Not the first time

    Does nobody here remember Space Bat?

    1. Parax

      Re: Not the first time

      exactly my thought too.. I was surprised spacebat didn't feature in the article.

      1. Parax

        Re: Not the first time

        I've just been shown this by a colleague..

  18. Kharkov
    Trollface

    Kermit, come back!

    Miss Piggy promises fewer karate chops!

  19. Tel

    And in our next instalment...

    Pigs In Spaaaaaace!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys

    I dont know! They are barely back on the "Best, Best Friend" list and already they are cadging lifts on US rockets!!

  21. Winkypop Silver badge
    Coat

    We've never lost an American frog in space

    ........, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch. Frog failure is not an option!

  22. 7teven 4ect

    It'll be fun, they said...

    Tease the witch, they said.

  23. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge

    Was'nt

    there a seagull that got the pointy end of a space shuttle up its bum a few years ago?

    1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

      Re: Was'nt

      Turkey vulture I believe...

  24. Johan Bastiaansen

    "As much fire as that rocket is putting out"

    not cold-blooded anymore then

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey Ma

    ... I can see your house from here!

  26. newspuppy

    But I want to know.. Did he croak?

    it was Green, but not a Martian I saw on that rocket.....

    1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: But I want to know.. Did he croak?

      "it was Green, but not a Martian I saw on that rocket....."

      Hulk exile.

  27. Anonymous IV

    A-frog-dizzy-ac

    Rockets turn frogs on? (But more probably off...)

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    We'd all jump that high

    If a bloody rocket launched just behind us

    1. Lars Silver badge
      Linux

      Re: We'd all jump that high

      But it would have been funnier with a cow. What am I drinking, cows are supposed to fall from the sky. Suicidal frog, trying to find the IT angle. Poor bastard.

      1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

        Re: We'd all jump that high

        "Suicidal frog, trying to find the IT angle. Poor bastard."

        Animal trying to find the IT angle. See Dilbert.

        Oh, wait...

  29. Roger Stenning
    Coat

    Mais attendez!

    'Ad it been launched 'ere at the ESA facility in French Guiana, we would be eating well this evening!

    1. gautam

      Re: Mais attendez!

      Oui monsieur, we missed a barbequed frog dinner!

      Americans are a wasteful lot, innit?

      1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

        Re: Mais attendez!

        A little. I already have enough frog legs in my freezer, thank you.

        Seriously, I do. :)

        1. Shrimpling
          Thumb Up

          Re: Mais attendez!

          My happiest discovery this summer was when I found them in a Chinese supermarkets here in the UK!

          Now all I need to do is find somewhere that sells horse meat locally.

          1. Paul Crawford Silver badge
            Trollface

            Re: Mais attendez!

            Try your local Tesco for burgers.

  30. Kaltern
    Trollface

    Ringdingadingdingding....

    ..... crazy frog!!!

  31. Anonymous John

    What happens when his mutated descendants arrive seeking revenge?

  32. ecofeco Silver badge
    Coat

    Rocket

    Rocket. Rocket. Rocket.

  33. i like crisps
    Thumb Up

    ' Lights, camera, ACTION!!!'.............."Ribbit"

    I've just heard that JJ Abrams has secured the 'Rights' to the frogs life story

    and intends on using his 'Cinematic Midas Touch' to turn it into next years

    'Hottest Summer Blockbuster'....One can only 'Hop' that it is better than his

    recent 'Wrath of Khan' Fuck-Up!!!.

    Look i'm sorry but i just do not get Benedict Cumberbatch at all? I always

    thought that Khan was supposed to be 'Middle Eastern' not some Eton-

    Harrow- fucking-Oxbridge-Paleface-Honky-fuck!!! That was not racist i'm

    a 'Honky' too and i'm allowed to use 'Our Word'....So there!!!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: ' Lights, camera, ACTION!!!'.............."Ribbit"

      Uh, are you feeling all right?

    2. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: ' Lights, camera, ACTION!!!'.............."Ribbit"

      Erm, in the *real* world, Khan is an Indian name, not a Middle Eastern name, such as Kamel, Abdul, Kereef, Shamal, Bint Haram, etc.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yummmmm! Roasted frog legs!

    Might be a bit crispy on the outside, though . . . but I'll bet they were well done!

  35. cortland

    Or bust!

    Batrachia or Bust!

  36. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Go

    Fly me to the moon

    One small step for (a) man. And one giant leap for a frog.

    Compared to the size of that rocket it must have been a cane toad from Australia (mate).

  37. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Coat

    "Likely to be injured"????

    Likely to be toast, with that amount of fire.

    Poor fritter, I mean critter!

  38. TRT Silver badge

    Lt. Ripley...

    Did you say Xenomorph or Xenopus?

  39. rav

    Where was R2D2?

    Seems R2 is in every movie these days.

  40. WereWoof
    Happy

    I, for one, Welcome our new amphibian overlords.

  41. PeterM42
    Unhappy

    No animals were harmed in the lauching of this rocket

    Oh wait!

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