That time a frog got too close to a rocket launch.
That time a frog got too close to a rocket launch. — NASA/Chris Perry of the Wallops Optical Systems Group

It was the best of photobombs. It was the worst of photobombs.

A frog was blasted into the air during a NASA rocket launch Sept. 6 and images of the unlucky little guy (presumably and sadly like the frog itself) went everywhere Thursday.

As NBC reported: "The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) -- which lifted off at 11:27 p.m. Friday aboard a Minotaur V rocket -- is set to reach the moon Oct. 6. Once there, the spacecraft will orbit for a few months, analyzing lunar dust and the atmosphere, according to the Associated Press."


Yes, NASA confirmed it was an actual frog, not a Jimmy Kimmel joke. Apparently, the frog body seems relatively large in the frame because the animal is closer to the remote camera than the rocket.

The caption accompanying the picture on NASA's website says: "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."

Also Thursday NASA said the human race has reached interstellar space for the first ti ... FROG!!

Universe Today, which Slate credited with being first to share the frog image, answered the obvious question: "Why would a frog be hanging around a launchpad? The launchpad at the Wallops/Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has a “pool” for the high-volume water deluge system that activates during launches to protect the pad from damage and for noise suppression, and likely there was a (formerly) damp, cool place that was a nice spot for a frog to hang out."

Or maybe this happened....

(Hat tip to @JimHebert for sharing that imgur image and giving frog lovers hope.)

Yes, the Internet loves/hates stuff like this.

The jokes even took off among actual astronauts.