A way-ward Space Coast sea turtle headed the wrong way to nest got some much needed human help.

The green turtle's tracks were spotted from the air on July 8 during a Kennedy Space Center Ecological Program flight to survey manatees near the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.

A closer look revealed the turtle who they think emerged from the Banana River and had wandered some 500 yards across dry sand to nest.

The team took an airboat out to help, and five staffers lifted the exhausted sea turtle onto a backboard, then on the boat and back into the river.

It's unusual to find an adult sea turtle in the Indian River Lagoon. They normally nest from the ocean.