Photo Shows Airborne Amphibian As Minotaur Boosts Probe To The Moon

The camera was triggered by sound. The flight of the hapless frog appears to have been triggered by the blast from the engines that were boosting the LADEE lunar atmospheric probe to the moon.

NASA says "A still camera on a sound trigger captured this intriguing photo of an airborne frog as NASA’s LADEE spacecraft lifts off from Pad 0B at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The photo team confirms the frog is real and was captured in a single frame by one of the remote cameras used to photograph the launch. The condition of the frog, however, is uncertain."

The fate of the frog doesn't look that uncertain from the perspective of this photograph. Certainly, it is a classic example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, the frog does look a bit like a contestant being launched into the Wipeout Zone (OK, we’ll admit, that’s a bit of an obscure pop culture reference, ed). Something tells us there wasn't a long swim and a prospective $50,000 prize at the end of that flight.

(Image provided by NASA)

FMI: www.nasa.gov