Space Bat

A small, crippled bat clung to the space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank as it launched into the heavens yesterday. Although NASA's report says that "the animal likely perished quickly during Discovery's climb into orbit", I'd like to imagine that, in its final moments, it saw something like this:


John Herrman of Gizmodo Australia would have preferred that NASA's release read more like his:

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.