Jul 25 1980
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
A rescue training exercise at KSC was about to begin: a mock-up of the Space Shuttle was set down in a pond, and the rescue team was ready to practice its procedures in case the Shuttle overshot the runway upon its return to launch site and landed in the drink. Then, Fat Albert rose from the pond and lumbered up to Sun himself about 10 feet from the mock-up. The test was halted until wildlife officers arrived on the scene.
Fat Albert, a local alligator, used to share lunches with KSC employees until (so it is said) he ate an employee's tennis shoe right off his foot. The wildlife officers who lassoed and carried away the alligator weighed him (1,00 pounds) and measured him (13 feet, 9 inches). With Fat Albert gone, the maneuver continued: the rescue team dropped from a helicopter into the pond and rescued two dummy astronauts from the mock-up. (JSC Roundup, July 25/80, 1)
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