Did Bat Hitch a Ride To Space On Discovery?

suraj.sun writes "A bat was seen clinging to the external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery before its launch on Sunday, apparently clung for dear life to the side of the tank as the spaceship lifted off. The shuttle accelerates to an orbital velocity of 17,500 milers per hour, which is 25 times faster than the speed of sound, in just over eight minutes. That's zero to 100 mph in 10 seconds. Did it make it into space? No one knows yet. But photos of Discovery as it cleared the launch tower showed a tiny speck on the side of the tank. When those photos were blown up, it became apparent that the speck was a bat."

Comments

119V-0080

[Lord Grey]

From space.com's article:

"The bat eventually became 'Interim Problem Report 119V-0080' after the [Final Inspection Team] finished their walkdown," the memo said. "Systems Engineering and Integration performed a debris analysis on him and ultimately a Launch Commit Criteria waiver to ICE-01 was written to accept the stowaway."

Poor bat. Can we come up with a better name for him (or her) than 119V-0080? We're talking about the highest- and fastest-flying bat of all time, probably. A real name is definitely in order.

Re:119V-0080

[The Grassy Knoll]

>There are cars that accelerate faster than that. Of course, I suppose they don't weigh 4.5 million pounds.....

And they're not accelerating upwards (I hope)

Re:119V-0080

[TheCreeep]

I say stick a caption on him and call him the lolbat.

Re:119V-0080

[A. B3ttik]

I would have gone with Lamarr.

Re:119V-0080

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you have an appropriate sig!

Re:119V-0080

[ControversialMatt]

i can haz spaceflight?

Re:119V-0080

[NotBornYesterday]

"Hey, have you seen Brian lately?"

"No, man, I haven't seen him since last night when he hooked up with that really huuuge white chick. why?"

"Dude, you should have seen it. He was goin' at it with her right out in the open, and all of a sudden she started shaking and smoking. I heard him scream 'YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!', there was a huge flash, she flew away, and that was that last I ever heard from him."

Re:119V-0080

[interested pyro]

And they're not accelerating upwards (I hope)

some of those crazy cars go at 9.8ft/s^2 (+ or - a little for air resistance) as for weighing 4.6 million tons, there is a car (vehicle) that goes .5 mph and weighs a lot. Its the thing that carries the shuttle to the launch pad.....

did we run out of targets ?

[polar red]

>When those photos were blown up
poor photo.

Hollywood Movie Incoming!

[Anonymous Coward]

Bats on a Shuttle?

Re:Hollywood Movie Incoming!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had it with these motherfuckin' bats on this motherfuckin' shuttle!

I can hear it now...

[KudyardRipling]

Where are the animal rights crowd? PETA should have a field-day with this.

Re:I can hear it now...

[Anonymous Coward]

Can we launch them into space, too?

Not quite

[Anonymous Coward]

30 feet off the pad the engines gave out and the bat carried them into orbit.

Heroic fucker.

Mynock

[mcvos]

Are they sure it's not a mynock?

Its final message to Earth

[PriceIke]

"So long and thanks for all the bugs."

mad as a hatter

[jollyreaper]

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
        How I wonder what you're at!
        Up above the world you fly,
        Like a teatray in the sky.

Re:mad as a hatter

[Em Emalb]

Little bat, clinging.
I can has space travel please?
HOLY SHIT, blast off!

The difference in Quality.

[geekmux]

"...showed a tiny speck on the side of the tank. When those photos were blown up, it became apparent that the speck was a bat.

And that folks, is the difference between NASA-cam and your average gas-station-cam, which, on average, can't identify Bigfoot if it were robbing the place.

Re:The difference in Quality.

[AioKits]

I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. There's a large out of focus monster roaming the countryside. Look out, he's fuzzy, let's get out of here.

Thanks to Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005)

Re:it's now a dead bat

[acedotcom]

other things bats are not or cannot do...

Bats cannot swallow a whole hotdog

Bats cannot follow the finer details of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Bats aren't horses, sheep or baseball bats

Re:it's now a dead bat

[XPulga]

This bat is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-BAT!!

Re:it's now a dead bat

[Arthur Grumbine]

Bats aren't horses, sheep or baseball bats

In the face of all the potential examples of what bats are not, your failure to pick 3 things is mind-boggling.

OT: Your sig

[ConceptJunkie]

Genesis 1:32 And God typed :wq!

Wow, you're treading on thin ice here. I mean there are some things that should never be made fun of. Do you realize how many people could take offense at this "joke"? People could be screaming "blasphemy" and worse! I'm personally not offended, but I think a lot of people wouldn't be so tolerant. I think you are running the risk of creating hatred and even violence with this kind of mockery.

I mean, implying that the Creator of the Universe doesn't use Emacs? That's harsh... where's your sense of decorum and respect for other people's religions?!