Rescued Sea Turtles Arrival at LLF, Release at Playalinda Beach, Florida

A PC12 aircraft carrying Kemp’s ridley and other sea turtles arrives at the Launch and Landing Facility, managed by Space Florida, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 26, 2021. The turtles were flown from aquatic centers in the northeast where they had been rehabilitated after suffering from cold-stunning. The turtles were offloaded in their containers and transferred to vehicles for the short trip to the Canaveral National Seashore, where they were released into the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean. NASA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, Space Florida, and Herndon Solutions Group, Kennedy’s environmental services contractor, provided support. The Turtles Fly Too organization provided the flight from Massachusetts and New York to Kennedy. With these turtles returned to the ocean, the rehabilitation facilities now have space that could be used to help treat other sea turtles, including the thousands of cold-stuns recently rescued in Texas. All marine turtle footage/images was obtained with the approval of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) under conditions not harmful to marine turtles. Footage was acquired while conducting authorized conservation activities pursuant to: FWC 2021 Consent Permit, MTP-21-005 and MTP-21-114.