It is but of no question that people from National Aeronautics and Space Administration has one of the coolest jobs in the world. Apart from that, they have the coolest activities. From bringing man on the moon, launching space probes into deep space, sending robots to Mars and resupplying the International Space Station, they got another challenge in their sleeves: The NASA Halloween Pumpkin Contest!
The space agency has held the Halloween Pumpkin contest for 6 years now. The Engineers from the divisions of the Spacecraft Mechanical Engineering and the Payload and Small Spacecraft Mechanical Engineering of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wearing their usual competitive stance, have created teams to plan and design the unbeatable Halloween Pumpkin. Of course, they do it in their down time with their own money.
On the contest day, they were only given one hour to transform their Halloween Pumpkin ideas into reality. And yes, they were trained for these pressured situations. When the time is up, they move their Halloween Pumpkins to the building where the NASA Scientists were waiting to judge who will win this year's NASA Halloween Pumpkin Contest.
The space guys did not disappoint. Upon submission of the Halloween pumpkin entries, it is very obvious that the space guys took the challenge very seriously. One of the entries has the JPL initials glowing a deep red with vials containing some unspecified materials protruding from the pumpkin's top. One description even reads: "A sign accompanying this candy-filled pumpkin noted that 'Mars sample returns are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get."
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory has released the NASA Halloween Pumpkin Contest videos online. Apart from Halloween, this is a special time for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory which was founded on Oct. 31, 1936. So apart from having the usual Halloween festivities, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is celebrating its 80th birthday!
