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Here's a story you can't miss. This little guy:
(click the image to see the story)
rode the Shuttle Discovery's external tank to the edge of space. Here's a shot at liftoff (Space Bat is the little spot in the red circle):
Click the image to see the story.
And here's the best eulogy ever:
At some point during the countdown, Spacebat — a Free-Tailed Chiroptera — was spotted latched to the foam of the external fuel tank, occasionally moving but never letting go. Wildlife experts deduced that he had injured his wing and shoulder, leaving him with little chance of survival. He remained on the tank until launch. NASA's cold report?
True! But here's how it should have read:
This makes me so very happy. Shades of Requiem.
Best,
Chris
(click the image to see the story)
rode the Shuttle Discovery's external tank to the edge of space. Here's a shot at liftoff (Space Bat is the little spot in the red circle):
Click the image to see the story.
And here's the best eulogy ever:
At some point during the countdown, Spacebat — a Free-Tailed Chiroptera — was spotted latched to the foam of the external fuel tank, occasionally moving but never letting go. Wildlife experts deduced that he had injured his wing and shoulder, leaving him with little chance of survival. He remained on the tank until launch. NASA's cold report?
The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery's climb into orbit.
True! But here's how it should have read:
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.
This makes me so very happy. Shades of Requiem.
Best,
Chris
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From:
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"Under the wide and starry sky
I hang upside down and wait to die.
Glad did I perch, and gladly fly
and I enter space with a will!'
This be the verse you grave for me:
'Here he rests where he longed to be;
Home is the ratite, far from his tree,
the Free-Tail, freeze-dried and chill."
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B
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Well done.
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:(
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