Shortly before every terminally online person in USAmerica got distracted by Elon Musk's prematurely exploding space phallus, there was a much more exciting space adventure happening in French Guiana. The European Space Agency was in the process of launching a Jupiter-bound rocket from the northeast coast of the South American region when an adorable sloth named Gérard burst onto the scene and stole the show.
From The Straits Times:
The launch was part of ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission, which marked the beginning of a voyage to uncover the secrets of the ocean worlds around the giant planet Jupiter.
Viewers were left surprised and delighted when they spotted the sloth, which has since been named Gerard by the ESA, staring straight into the camera near the launch site.
"Aside from the actual launch, this guy is definitely the star of ESA's Juice telecast," said Dr Nadia Drake from the Pulitzer-winning Quanta magazine.
Sloth videobombs live streaming of rocket launch to Jupiter, charms viewers [Eileen Ng / Straits Times]
