10 Secrets You Didn’t Know About NASA

Perhaps one of the reasons why the Space Shuttle programme was cancelled was because people didn't want to have to keep clearing alligators off the runway every time a Shuttle came into land.

No, seriously. The Kennedy Space Centre is full of the scaly snappers.

The Centre is located on Merritt Island, a small mass of land off the East Coast of Florida that isn't technically an island, but who's keeping track? Despite being the most famous landmark on the "island", the NASA complex isn't the only thing there. There's the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to over 1000 species of plants and animals.

Sea turtles, manatees, bobcats, bald eagles, you name it, the refuge has it. Oh, and we can't forget about the gators.

NASA have the ability to restrict human access to the site should they need it, but how does one go about telling a man-eating reptile what to do? According to the agency, interactions between their staff and the gators is rare, but that's exactly what they would say.

Next thing you know they'll have hijacked a rocket. Then we'll all be in trouble.