At 11:27 pm EDT on September 6, 2013, NASA’s LADEE mission lifted off aboard a Minotaur V rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia shore, a launch visible across the entire northeast coast as it arced beautifully over the Atlantic on its way to the Moon.
Sadly, at least one frog may have been harmed in the making of this mission.
The photo above, taken by an automated camera set up near the launch site, shows Orbital Sciences Minotaur vehicle lifting off on a column of flame and steam. Silhouetted against the backlit exhaust cloud on the right is an airborne frog, likely flung from one of the small ponds near the pad.
According to Nancy Atkinson on Universe Today, Wallops spokesman Jeremy Eggers confirmed the picture is legitimate and was not altered in any way.
Perhaps in memoriam this will become the unofficial mascot of the facility, like the “space bat” that hitched a last ride on a shuttle fuel tank in 2009. He really should get a name… how about “Wally”?
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Also, here’s a little tribute song to Rocket Frog, via BurritoJustice and Allesondra Springmann (with apologies to Mr. Bowie):
Lights in the Dark 
Thank you for filling my quotient of weird for the day!
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There was “Space Bat” now there’s “Space Frog” !!
But personally I prefer bats. They are more cute 😉
Jeff Barani from Vence (France)
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