Thursday, April 16, 2009

ShuttleBat

Apparently, a wounded bat attached itself to the Space Shuttle during its last launch, and died when the vehicle began to move.

NASA described it this way:

The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery's climb into orbit.

I like Gizmodo's version better:

Bereft of his ability to fly and with nowhere to go, a courageous bat climbed aboard our Discovery with stars in his weak little eyes. The launch commenced, and Spacebat trembled as his frail mammalian body was gently pushed skyward. For the last time, he felt the primal joy of flight; for the first, the indescribable feeling of ascending toward his dream—a place far away from piercing screeches and crowded caves, stretching forever into fathomless blackness.

Whether he was consumed in the exhaust flames or frozen solid in the stratosphere is of no concern. We know that Spacebat died, but his dream will live on in all of us.

2 comments:

genderist said...

Much better version - I agree.

They need to come out with bat-shaped popsicles and call them "living the dream" or something like that!

Cerulean Bill said...

When I was in missiles, an Australian crew visited our base and managed to stick a bright red kangaroo sticker atop the bright white Minuteman that was outside the hangar. Quite impressive. I can easily see bat stickers showing up on the Shuttle.