As preparations were ongoing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Wednesday, many factors caused the postponement of the consequential crew rocket launch. Aside from the poor weather, ironically, an alligator was also responsible for its delay.
In an interview with Chicago's WGN News, Frank Robb, an alligator trapping agent, he said that he was called by NASA to transport an alligator that had roamed onto the launch pad amidst the crew's preparations.
Robb joked about the gator aimlessly wandering around the vicinity, probably wanting to experience the flight to space personally. Luckily, catching the alligator was an easy feat for him. Robb told reporters that all he had to do was put a rope on him and load him up in the truck.
Moreover, the space complex in Florida seems to be a 'hangout' place for alligators and other animals. Since the center shares a border with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, animals sometimes pop out of nowhere within the complex.
The refuge is home to more than 330 native and transient bird species, 117 fish, 25 mammal species, and t 65 amphibian and reptile species. Drainage canals and other water sources surrounding the KSC appeal to several alligators further into the space site. Employees have even dubbed a particular path the "Gator Walk" as they usually spot alligators in the site.
Robb says nowadays you just don't know where gators would suddenly turn up. From the Vehicle Assembly Building to under shuttles, pads, and dragon capsules, he says you never know what to expect from the Kennedy Space Center.
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Animals Sabotaging Space Missions
This isn't the first time these ferocious reptiles got in the way of space mission preparations. Back in 2009, an alligator caused space shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 mission crew to completely stop while they were on their way to a practice liftoff.
The gator strolled into the pathway as the crew was heading down the Saturn Causeway to Launch Pad 39A. Fondly enough, the crew later adopted the reptile and turned it into their mascot.
Alligators aren't the only menace known in sabotaging scientific processes. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva shared that they have experienced disasters involving animals from nibbling weasels to baguette-dropping birds.
Why are Animals Being Sent to Space?
Although Mr. Gator was not allowed to take part in the space mission preparations, other lucky animals have been fortunate enough to experience outer space. Sending animals to space began as a plan to ensure that human astronauts could survive in the cosmos. As spaceflight programs started to emerge in the 1960s and1970s, space offered scientists the opportunity to "turn off" gravity. This variable was something they could never fully eradicate on Earth.
In 1957, a dog named Laika became the first animal to orbit her home planet. The hairy cosmonaut circled the Earth in the Sputnik 2 space capsule, going ahead of the first human space traveler by almost four years.
Laika, unfortunately, died during her momentous flight. Nonetheless, she and the other animals sent to space significantly contributed to scientists' knowledge of what happens to the human body.
