Full Version: Batronaut
Not to mention the other biologicals aboard NASA's most recent launch, but there was a bat that tenaciously clung to the External Tank even after liftoff! [photos courtesy collectspace.com]
Bat update: This from the "The Write Stuff" blog:
KSC launch director Mike Leinbach suggested that the bat did not survive its brush with Discovery. In response to a reporter’s question, he said: “We are characterizing [the bat] as unexpected debris and he’s probably still debris somewhere.” A NASA press conference is ongoing. Discovery reached orbit safely after a 7:43 p.m. launch. As a reminder, a bat was spotted clinging to the side of the shuttle’s external tank during the countdown. Before flight, NASA speculated that the animal would be shaken free by the launch rumble and fly safely away - as happened once during a 1996 launch. It would appear this bat was not so lucky.
KSC launch director Mike Leinbach suggested that the bat did not survive its brush with Discovery. In response to a reporter’s question, he said: “We are characterizing [the bat] as unexpected debris and he’s probably still debris somewhere.” A NASA press conference is ongoing. Discovery reached orbit safely after a 7:43 p.m. launch. As a reminder, a bat was spotted clinging to the side of the shuttle’s external tank during the countdown. Before flight, NASA speculated that the animal would be shaken free by the launch rumble and fly safely away - as happened once during a 1996 launch. It would appear this bat was not so lucky.
<moment of silence>....</>
He boldly went where no chiropteran has gone before...
He boldly went where no chiropteran has gone before...
I can see the Disney / Danny Boyle film now...
The story of a simple bat who had a dream… to be the most famous bat EVER, and to fly higher than any bat had ever flown before…
Ignoring his poor background, and his family's poverty, he dragged himself out of the slums of bat town and caught a ride to KSC on the roof of a passing school bus, going to see a launch. Riding the bus he heard, through the roof, the excited conversation of the kids inside, all looking forward to the blast-off, and a flame of inspiration ignited inside his little bat chest - he would be the first bat into space! Reaching KSC he flew off the bus and headed for the launch pad - but a freak gust of wind knocked him off balance and sent him smashing into the external tank! Soon he was sliding and slipping down the tank, but somehow he managed to find a claw-hold, and there he clung on, bravely ignoring the pain from his broken wing, watching the launch preparations below…
When the launch came Brian clung on for dear life, and as the shuttle shook and shuddered beneath him and cleared the tower he looked down at the world shrinking below, and up at the achingly blue sky above, and knew his dream was about to come true… he HAD flown higher than any bat had flown before…
(cue inspiring uplifting music… roll titles…)
The story of a simple bat who had a dream… to be the most famous bat EVER, and to fly higher than any bat had ever flown before…
Ignoring his poor background, and his family's poverty, he dragged himself out of the slums of bat town and caught a ride to KSC on the roof of a passing school bus, going to see a launch. Riding the bus he heard, through the roof, the excited conversation of the kids inside, all looking forward to the blast-off, and a flame of inspiration ignited inside his little bat chest - he would be the first bat into space! Reaching KSC he flew off the bus and headed for the launch pad - but a freak gust of wind knocked him off balance and sent him smashing into the external tank! Soon he was sliding and slipping down the tank, but somehow he managed to find a claw-hold, and there he clung on, bravely ignoring the pain from his broken wing, watching the launch preparations below…
When the launch came Brian clung on for dear life, and as the shuttle shook and shuddered beneath him and cleared the tower he looked down at the world shrinking below, and up at the achingly blue sky above, and knew his dream was about to come true… he HAD flown higher than any bat had flown before…
(cue inspiring uplifting music… roll titles…)
O.K. time to turn this topic into <cut>
No it isn't. What on Earth made you think that this thread was the right place for posting random documents about old shuttle variants? - Moderator
No it isn't. What on Earth made you think that this thread was the right place for posting random documents about old shuttle variants? - Moderator
I note bemusedly, as a non-person flying into space, the bat meets the criteria for discussion here.
Does anyone know if the bat was instrumented ??
Does anyone know if the bat was instrumented ??
I have to admit... the picture of the bat clinging to the tank made me feel sad.
And Stu's story didn't help!
(Just kidding, Stu. Keep up the good work)
And Stu's story didn't help!
(Just kidding, Stu. Keep up the good work)
QUOTE (tasp @ Mar 18 2009, 08:35 AM) 
I note bemusedly, as a non-person flying into space, the bat meets the criteria for discussion here.
It's probably more appropriate for the BAUT forum.
QUOTE (tasp @ Mar 18 2009, 08:35 AM)
Does anyone know if the bat was instrumented ??
Space debris detector.
Click to view attachment
C'mon everyone...
Why so serious?
Why so serious?
QUOTE (Stu @ Mar 18 2009, 10:23 AM)
C'mon everyone...
Why so serious?
Why so serious?
Bat shuttle makes rare night landing...
In Valencia, Spain, a bat in a house, tent, etc. is considered a sign of good luck. Legend says a king found one on top of his tent before the battle in which he conquered the city.
I deleted something like this last night before posting. But seeing as we're going there... ;p
We're lucky enough to have bats living in the overhanging eaves at one end of our house (picture the Bates motel, but a little more decrepit.) On a warm summer's evening, I've a favourite spot to go for a wee perspective and tonic, facing west over a field that slopes down towards a forested valley and the hidden Wye, with the Breacon Beacons and hills of south Wales in the distance. Sometimes, there's a magical moment; when the lightest imaginable breath of wind comes up over the meadow, like a gust over Spirit's panels, and the road through the village isn't full of artics and superbikes, and the early bats are flickering around a particular pine tree which attracts thousands of flying insects. And that's what I was thinking of, looking at the pic above.
So... *choke*... excuse me if I get a little serious about our poor, brave, departed Chiropteric comrade, who dared to take the final flight, after receiving that "GO" that we all must hear, one day. A second or two of surging glory... followed by a very brief puff of hydrogen, carbon and trace elements as the radiant heat from the SRB / SSME plumes vapourised the poor sod in a microsecond.
cue "The Last Post"...
(OK, OK, I'm kidding, but bats really are very cool. One flew into my study one evening when I left the outside door ajar; this year I'm getting one of these. Should be fun for the niece & nephew )
We're lucky enough to have bats living in the overhanging eaves at one end of our house (picture the Bates motel, but a little more decrepit.) On a warm summer's evening, I've a favourite spot to go for a wee perspective and tonic, facing west over a field that slopes down towards a forested valley and the hidden Wye, with the Breacon Beacons and hills of south Wales in the distance. Sometimes, there's a magical moment; when the lightest imaginable breath of wind comes up over the meadow, like a gust over Spirit's panels, and the road through the village isn't full of artics and superbikes, and the early bats are flickering around a particular pine tree which attracts thousands of flying insects. And that's what I was thinking of, looking at the pic above.
So... *choke*... excuse me if I get a little serious about our poor, brave, departed Chiropteric comrade, who dared to take the final flight, after receiving that "GO" that we all must hear, one day. A second or two of surging glory... followed by a very brief puff of hydrogen, carbon and trace elements as the radiant heat from the SRB / SSME plumes vapourised the poor sod in a microsecond.
cue "The Last Post"...
(OK, OK, I'm kidding, but bats really are very cool. One flew into my study one evening when I left the outside door ajar; this year I'm getting one of these. Should be fun for the niece & nephew
)
The bat story reached MSNBC and Space.com.
"In the hours before Discovery's liftoff, NASA's Final Inspection Team (called the "ICE team") investigated whether the creature would pose a risk to the shuttle if its body impacted the orbiter's sensitive heat shield tiling. Ultimately, NASA officials signed a waiver confirming that the bat was safe to fly with."
"The bat eventually became 'Interim Problem Report 119V-0080' after the ICE 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."
The bat was thought to have had a damaged wing--so it appeared to hang on rather than try and fly away during launch.
"In the hours before Discovery's liftoff, NASA's Final Inspection Team (called the "ICE team") investigated whether the creature would pose a risk to the shuttle if its body impacted the orbiter's sensitive heat shield tiling. Ultimately, NASA officials signed a waiver confirming that the bat was safe to fly with."
"The bat eventually became 'Interim Problem Report 119V-0080' after the ICE 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."
The bat was thought to have had a damaged wing--so it appeared to hang on rather than try and fly away during launch.
In Britain bats are protected by law, and it is illegal to make alterations to a structure that harbours bats without a proper plan for their survival. I presume that means not launching the structure into space. It could never happen here, thank goodness.
According to various comments on that story, this is actually an April Fools joke.
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