Here's What Happens When NASA Engineers Carve Their Pumpkins

By Nancy Atkinson - October 31, 2016 at 9:44 PM UTC | Site News
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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/jzPuMyIE1Gpic.twitter.com/6eTtXsQmc2 — NASA JPL (@NASAJPL)

The pictures of the costume contest are courtesy JPL mechanical engineer

Aaron Yazzie's Twitter feed:

1st Place Winner: Mars Attacker! #NASACostumepic.twitter.com/0sqhI4kKpc — Aaron Yazzie (@YazzieSays)

2nd Place Winner: NASA Mission Hats! (Including the one and only @PlanetaryKeri!) #NASACostumepic.twitter.com/zutOi4W6sd — Aaron Yazzie (@YazzieSays)

3rd place winner: Meteor Shower! #NASACostumepic.twitter.com/u4PnMQ9XVk — Aaron Yazzie (@YazzieSays)

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com