bat-ronaut???

[beason]

Got this in an email after our launch sunday night. Man some of the stuff i see at work...

the poor fella is hanging off the side fo the fuel tank on the shuttle, with a combined 44 million+ HP (or 5.3 million lbs of thrust) under him


This from our friends at the Cape on launch day. Another legend of the Launch ! We all hope the little guy made it.

Although we remained hopeful he would wake up and fly away, the bat eventually became IPR 119V-0080 after the ICE team finished their walkdown. He did change the direction he was pointing from time to time throughout countdown but ultimately never flew away. IR imagery shows he was alive and not frozen like many would think. The surface of the ET foam is actually generally between 60-80 degrees F on a day like yesterday. SE&I performed a debris analysis on him and ultimately a LCC waiver to ICE-01 was written to accept the stowaway. Lift off imagery analysis confirmed that he held on until at least the vehicle cleared the tower before we lost sight of him.

And thus is the legend of the STS-119 Bat-ronaut….

 

[neobart]

Lol. To infinity and beyond.

 

[MotoGod]

That's a trip! lol Mr. Bat's Wild Ride - The Movie. I can see it already.

 

[Cupooterluvr]

LMAO! I watched this launch out on the front lawn

 

[Rolex]

It's hard to believe he hung on after the initial ignition.
Once the boosters went off, he probably thought he was like a bat out of hell.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Poor little blood sucking bastard.

 

[flm_savage]

awesome. FLIR technology is amazing as well. I remember spending hours out on the flightline overseas "testing" the FLIR ball. We generally quit after out portable diesel generator ran out of fuel. Autotrack FTW!!!! you could follow the heat signature of the cherry on a cigarette from 1000yds

 

[alpinehyperlite]

He probably got fried and was stuck to the fuel cell......

 

[flm_savage]

i don't believe those cells are hot at this stage

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Hes like 25 feet away from like HUGE FLAMES!!!

 

[insaneatvs]

Wow, thats cool....I think he was a fried bat as well

 

[alpinehyperlite]

or just a greasy lil hairy spot on the paint.

 

[beason]

that is actually a foam coating, used on the tank to keep ice from forming. I wonder if he was dug in and hung up in the foam...

i can only imagine what was going through his little head when they fired the shuttle engines, then 2 seconds later the main boosters..

I've heard of them hitting birds on the way up, but never anything stowing away for the ride!!

 

[alpinehyperlite]

or just a greasy lil hairy spot on the FOAM.

fixed myself

i can only imagine what was going through his little head when they fired the shuttle engines, then 2 seconds later the main boosters..

Bet it was, "ohhhh DDDDDAAAAAAAAMMMMMMNNNNN"

 

[Rolex]

i can only imagine what was going through his little head when they fired the shuttle engines, then 2 seconds later the main boosters..
!

Poor little guy. I'm sure the vibration woke him up and he wondered, "Hey, what's that funny noise?"
10 seconds after liftoff he started wondering how he got an E ticket at Disney world.

 

[RC Addict]

Brings a whole new meaning to "Hitching a ride"...



















"Rocket Bat"???






















Major Tom (the Bat)????

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"Wait a minute, where IS the earth???"