NASA engineers are some of the most imaginative and intelligent people in the universe. So when they challenge each other to a pumpkin-carving contest, the sky’s the limit when it comes to creativity, humor, and pure engineering brilliance.
For the past seven years, the brainiacs at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California have held an “unofficial” pumpkin carving contest with some strict rules: they have one hour to execute their designs and are not allowed to carve, plan or compete during work hours.
“They do it all in their own time,” NASA mechanical engineer Mike Meacham said. “They go home, use their own resources, plan it out, and all we give them is a pumpkin.”
“Everyone gets so excited about this competition that has no prize other than bragging rights,” Iona Brockie, an engineer on the Mars 2020 rover, said. “It’s fun to see everybody bring the same kind of crazy energy that they do to making the flight projects to something as simple as a pumpkin carving contest.”

















A young lion playing with an older animal
A colorful bird appears to be yelling at it a friend
An otter appears like it's holding its face in shock
Two young foxes playing in the wild
Two otters appear to be laughing together in the water
A fish looks like it's afraid of the shark behind it
A bird appears to be ignoring their partner
A squirrel looks like it's trapped in a tree
A bear holds hand over face, making it appear like it's exhausted
A penguin looks like its trying to appear inconspicuous
A young squirrel smells a flower
An insect appears to be smiling and waving at the camera
An otter lies on its side apparently cracking up laughing
Two monkeys caught procreating
A young chimp relaxes with its hands behind its head
A snowy owl appears to be smiling
A monkey holds finger to face as if it's lost in thought
A turtle crossing the road under a 'slow' sign
A polar bear lies on its back like it's trying to hide
A rodent strikes human-like pose
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Robert Redford advocating against the demolition of Santa Monica Pier while filming "The Sting" 1973


Image artifacts (diffraction spikes and vertical streaks) appearing in a CCD image of a major solar flare due to the excess incident radiation