Godspeed, Spacebat!

Have you heard about Spacebat? He's real--- honest!

Here he is in closeup, clinging to the side of the Space Shuttle's external fuel tank, just before liftoff a few days ago:



And here's the brave, plucky devil at the actual moment (inside circle towards bottom of tank):


In the time it took those NASA images to be processed, Spacebat caught geeky imaginations everywhere, leading to posts like this:

At some point during the countdown, Spacebat—a Free-Tailed Chiroptera—was spotted latched to the foam of the external fuel tank, occasionally moving around 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 little 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 to us. We know that Spacebat died, but his dream will live on in all of us.

Almost instantly, Spacebat became a meme.

People began creating memorial images:



Some wrote haiku:

an ode to Space Bat
surly bonds slipped, stars in his
windblown little eyes

Some rewrote old songs:

Out of the Blue, into the Bat

My my, hey hey
Flown before. Will fly today.
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.

Out of the blue and into the black
Space bug bit for this here bat.
And once you're gone, you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.

Jacked me some wings. Maybe more'n I can handle.
What the f*ck. Baby, light this candle.
It's better to burn out than it is to rust
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky.

Hey hey, my my
Spacebat's name can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.

Some started faux-reminiscence threads:

Hey, remember that time he got caught in that girls hair?

Some compared him to other similarly iconic heroes:



There's even a Youtube movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibq2IwznCgc

In fact, there's a ton more: search for Spacebat.

Poor little guy, a mammalian hero. R.I.P

Spacebat, 2009-2009

Clearly, he had The Right Fluff.