Every workplace should have this much fun! A group of engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory held their sixth annual pumpkin carving contest, and this year’s entries did not disappoint. Using a combination of engineering savvy and creative license, the JPL engineers carved up several different types of themed pumpkins, including a cow abduction by aliens, a geyser-spewing Europa, unique depictions of several different space missions and much more.
Halloween is actually a special holiday at JPL because October 31, 1936 was the beginning of JPL’s history, when several grad students studying at Caltech and some amateur rocket enthusiasts drove out to a dry canyon tested out a liquid rocket engine. To celebrate JPL’s 80th anniversiary, here’s a link to a gallery of images pairs that shows vintage views from JPL’s history with images that show what the lab looks like today.
In addition, JPL held a Halloween costume contest that really was out of this world. See all the fun below:
This pumpkin was turned into a spooky alien abduction scene:
A pale pumpkin Europa, complete with geysers. Behind it, Juno orbits Jupiter.
Wheee! A Halloween carnival:
JPL’s Starshade was turned into a chainsaw massacre.
Need last minute ?pumpkin? carving tips? Check out what some of our employees came up with this year. Full gallery: https://t.co/jzPuMyIE1G pic.twitter.com/6eTtXsQmc2
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) October 28, 2016
The pictures of the costume contest are courtesy JPL mechanical engineer Aaron Yazzie’s Twitter feed:
1st Place Winner: Mars Attacker! #NASACostume pic.twitter.com/0sqhI4kKpc
— Aaron Yazzie (@YazzieSays) October 31, 2016
2nd Place Winner: NASA Mission Hats! (Including the one and only @PlanetaryKeri !) #NASACostume pic.twitter.com/zutOi4W6sd
— Aaron Yazzie (@YazzieSays) October 31, 2016
3rd place winner: Meteor Shower! #NASACostume pic.twitter.com/u4PnMQ9XVk
— Aaron Yazzie (@YazzieSays) October 31, 2016
love it!