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On Friday, the eyes of the world’s science media were turned to South America for the launch of the European Space Agency’s hotly anticipated JUICE mission. Aiming to explore the icy moons of Jupiter and potentially discover if there was life present on these frozen worlds, the JUICE mission has been long awaited. However, this historic space moment was somewhat upstaged by a surprise party crasher in the form of a sloth.
The Ariane V rocket carrying JUICE was all set to launch on Friday, April 14 after it had been canceled due to a lightning risk the previous day. Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana was the site of the launch, near the town of Kourou. French Guiana is home to a wide variety of wildlife including jaguars and giant anteaters but it was a little sloth that stole the show.
During ESA's livestream counting down to the launch, at around 2 minutes and 50 seconds before the liftoff, viewers noticed a little face on the livestream. Featured on ESA's Facebook page, Gérard the Sloth, as he’s now been named, was in full view in front of the field camera for the launch.
Fortunately, he was gently removed from the area by officials (nobody wanted a repeat of this unfortunate critter), but not before reaching Internet celebrity status. Since the JUICE mission will take at least eight years to reach Jupiter, some have called for the sloth to be the official mascot on account of their naturally chilled out and slow approach to life.
Social media users even went so far as to create Gérard the Sloth-themed art and poetry.
Ad Iovem Lente translates from Latin as "slowly to Jupiter".
With the launch of SpaceX's Starship planned for April 17, we'll be tuning in to see what other creatures might crash the livestream, or even if the rocket makes it to orbit.
