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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."
Poor bat. Can we come up with a better name for him (or her) than 119V-0080?
120V-0090? ;)
We're talking about the highest- and fastest-flying bat of all time, probably
I wonder how long he held on? Unless he was sheltered from the airflow I find it hard to believe that he could have held on once the shuttle reached any real speed. It's hard enough to hang on in a wind tunnel at subsonic speeds.
As an aside, 0 to 100 in 10 seconds? There are cars that accelerate faster than that. Of course, I suppose they don't weigh 4.5 million pounds.....
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Awesome! I'm gonna make it a little bit better.
"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!', she lit a fart or something and there was a huge flash, she flew away, and that was that last I ever heard from him."
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
I, for one, welcome our new bloodsucking bat overlords!