Grard steals the show: Sloth appears at Jupiter Mission launch site during broadcast

A sloth’s brief onscreen appearance delighted viewers who tuned in to watch the European Space Agency (ESA) launch of a mission to Jupiter on Saturday, April 15. A two-second clip of the sloth appeared in a video report that detailed preparations for the launch of JUICE — short for the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer — aboard the Ariane 5 rocket at the ESA’s spaceport in French Guiana. Dr. Nadia Drake of Quanta Magazine, who spotted the cameo and posted about it on Twitter, said: “Aside from the actual launch, this guy is definitely the star of @ESA’s JUICE telecast.” Replying to Drake, the ESA said: “Although we were focusing on a certain rocket and spacecraft, we tend to agree.” The ESA also posted a screenshot of the sloth and, in photo credits below it, indicated that they had named the sloth Gérard. Credit: ESA via Storyful