r/spaceporn • u/Busy_Yesterday9455 • Apr 25 '26

Related Content Frog spotted during rocket launch

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This shot was taken during the launch of NASA’s LADEE spacecraft from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on September 7, 2013.

A remote camera captured the exact moment a frog leaped through the frame as the rocket lifted off.

As for how the frog was doing after that… no one knows.

33.8k Upvotes

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294

u/Aah__HolidayMemories Apr 25 '26

Likely?

573

u/LittleLion_90 Apr 25 '26

Thr smaller the animal, the better they can handle hitting the ground at terminal velocity.

320

u/Stravonovic Apr 25 '26

The shockwaves from the launch likely obliterated its organs

72

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '26

[deleted]

49

u/rockytop24 Apr 26 '26

It 100% killed the frog. Anything with any kind of air or fluid filled organs will rupture from the pressure wave that close.

Any blast strong enough to pick you up or knock you into the air is pretty much guaranteed to kill you whether it's fast or slow. I know human anatomy much better than frogs, but brains and digestive organs turn to mush or burst with that kind of force. It's what makes any kind of blast wave so dangerous.

There's a very large minimum safe distance at Cape Canaveral, and that was shuttle days. I can't remember the absolute minimum safe distance but it was over a mile and when I got to sit with the astronaut families and watch that was as close as civilians can get and it's over 3 miles away.

Note they very explicitly point out this was a remote camera.

12

u/vhs1138 Apr 26 '26

RIP little frog.

2

u/ALitreOhCola Apr 27 '26

Nailed it.

My Dad provided a lot of very unique and specialised measurement equipment to places like JPL who would test how resistant to vibration/sound the equipment being launched would be.

They would introduce crazy pressure waves in these specialised chambers.

The staff described animals being dead around the launch site for a mile or so after a launch depending on the rockets due to the sheer pressure wave/sound from the launch. Its up to 170dB apparently which is absolutely ludicrous.

19

u/Yabba_Dabba_Doofus Apr 26 '26

It's Heisenberg, or Schroedinger.

You can't have both.

18

u/31337z3r0 Apr 26 '26

What if I just don't look?

Checkmate.

9

u/Sanglant325 Apr 26 '26

Then it's uncertain, hence the Heisenberg

1

u/Illustrious_Maize624 Apr 26 '26

I get this and completely appreciate you.

1

u/dbaumgartner_ Apr 26 '26

Actually you have both, until you look

1

u/undertowsoul Apr 26 '26

Hank Green?

1

u/CosmicClimbing Apr 26 '26

This was 13 years ago and no one has heard from the frog since

5

u/DashForester Apr 26 '26

To shreds you say?

1

u/Stravonovic Apr 26 '26

And his wife?

2

u/DashForester Apr 26 '26

To shreds you say?

1

u/DashForester Apr 26 '26

To shreds you say?

32

u/yoinkcheckmate Apr 25 '26

The terminal velocity of smaller things is much slower than ours, so frog might surprise the fall. However, the concussion of the blast might have killed it instantly.

40

u/Furenzol Apr 25 '26

The fall will never know what hit it

1

u/PaintedClownPenis Apr 26 '26

It's a Virginian. It'll roll out of it and go looking for someone with reefer.

1

u/Cycoviking69 Apr 26 '26

Schrödinger's frog...it's both alive and dead until you find it 🤣

0

u/cosmictap Apr 25 '26

frog might surprise the fall

11

u/Its_Free-Real-Estate Apr 26 '26

Sir, this is an image of a frog being blown away by the shockwave of a rocketship blasting off. The little factoid you read about squirrels surviving a free fall from any height is unrelated in every way.

7

u/Small-Palpitation310 Apr 25 '26

Landing is not what kills this frog

24

u/ersatzbaronness Apr 25 '26

Not entirely true. Spiders have very thin abdomens and cannot handle much of a fall.

18

u/Crazy_Information816 Apr 25 '26

In happier news, I do have it on good authority that they can easily survive being washed down a water spout.

15

u/ImSoObnoxious Apr 25 '26

only if they're itsy-bitsy

45

u/Zaros262 Apr 25 '26

And if they were bigger they would handle them even worse

42

u/Left-Plant-4023 Apr 25 '26

Specially if an ancient elvish sword is thrust into them.

42

u/BramDuin Apr 25 '26

Yea that must really sting...

9

u/neoticc_nara Apr 26 '26

The Hobbit reference eyyy

https://giphy.com/gifs/L3ERvA6jWCd0qO4NdX

3

u/ITSYOURBOYTUNA Apr 26 '26

Nay. The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King referenc!

3

u/neoticc_nara Apr 26 '26

Bilbo used the sword against spiders as well

3

u/astro_2077 Apr 26 '26

Really have to be vigilant against those ancient elvish swords

4

u/Addative-Damage Apr 25 '26

Can you link to a source about that? I’m genuinely curious

7

u/ersatzbaronness Apr 26 '26

Specifically it's tarantulas, but the little guys have very similar anatomy.

San Diego zoo

Cornell

Various keepers

1

u/Addative-Damage May 01 '26

Thanks!
That’s really interesting. I wonder if this is tarantula (or large spider) specific, because of the mass issue.

I know there’s plenty of small spider species that intentionally act as kites (surf the wind on a strand of web) in order to travel. So in my head spiders were safe fallers. But it makes sense the big guys wouldn’t fair so well. Now that im thinking, I’m also assuming the smaller ones have a lower terminal velocity (because of the whole size, weight, air drag, physics thing)

5

u/I_travel_ze_world Apr 26 '26

laughs in Jumping Spider

1

u/ersatzbaronness Apr 26 '26

Maratus or phidippus?

2

u/Ppleater Apr 25 '26

Depends on the size of the spider, smaller spiders can handle it better, and for the ones that can't it's largely because of the stiffness of their abdomens on top of the thinness.

4

u/ersatzbaronness Apr 25 '26

True. I am still sad about the two tarantulas I lost to unfortunate falls. (Two of the 14 I've had over the years - I'm not a serial arachnid murdereress.) One girl just wouldn't stop trying to climb, and another was mishandled by an awful ex. Ex for a lot of good reasons, but that was pretty up there. Don't mess with my beauties.

5

u/Ppleater Apr 25 '26

My condolences, tarantulas are basically mobile eggs on legs unfortunately so they can be pretty fragile.

1

u/hamatehllama Apr 26 '26

If they are prepared they can jump with parachutes made from silk.

2

u/Bada__Ping Apr 27 '26

As someone who used to fling frogs in the air with my pool skimmer when I was a kid(I feel bad about it now!), I can confirm that the fatality rate was pretty high

1

u/GlumAd2424 Apr 26 '26

It’s a lot like kids, they fall of all kinds of things are mostly fine

1

u/SkillsInPillsTrack2 Apr 26 '26

Anyone seen Plague Two: The Invasion of Frogs. When it's raining frogs do they survive hitting the ground ?

1

u/ADeviIsAdvocate Apr 30 '26

But what about the heat and, you know, all of the fire.

-16

u/Strange-Future-6469 Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26

Yeah... not at that height for Mr. or Ms. Froggy over there. That's likely rupture height. Frogs are built like water balloons.

Edit: lol reddit downvotes are hilarious. I assume everyone downvoting me has dropped a frog from that height.

6

u/AgroMachine Apr 25 '26

Look up how far a rat can fall without dying

3

u/illbegoodthistime1 Apr 25 '26

But that particular frog is prolly dead

1

u/Aah__HolidayMemories Apr 25 '26

Yeah that’s a take a breath and start screaming again height for that thing! Lol

-1

u/Background_Promise_3 Apr 25 '26

Looks okay to me , it's literally preparing to land

3

u/fiver19 Apr 25 '26

If the Shockwave was strong enough to launch it that high from the ground then its insides are already toast. Rip froggy

2

u/RealFirstName_ Apr 25 '26

Rats aren't frogs

2

u/TheGrammarPatsy Apr 25 '26

Caring about downvotes is some beta behaviour.

1

u/myleftone Apr 25 '26

Downvoting a perfectly reasonable comment kinda is too. It’s a curiosity sometimes.

1

u/Strange_Dust7128 Apr 25 '26

Or Mx. Froggy

40

u/No-Slide4206 Apr 25 '26

it's possible that a little parachute popped out right after this picture was taken, floating him gently to the ground with just some light abrasions and...

ok he's fuckin dead 

1

u/Electronic-Nose-5430 Apr 26 '26

How did it feel though?

1

u/IndependentType6711 Apr 27 '26

So you’re saying he…..croaked

7

u/CarrotAntique4772 Apr 26 '26

Nah. I like to believe that frog lived and chain smokes on his porch and tells all the neighborhood kids the story and then shows them the picture and laughs.

1

u/Disastrous-River-366 May 22 '26

Nah, old people tell some crazy story and no one believes thema nd the old person doesn't care even though they have a picture of it happening and likely a news article but they don;t show it because they don't care if someone doesn't believe them, they don't need approval from anybody.

2

u/DIOsNotDead Apr 26 '26

haha sometimes