Space Bat

National Geographic’s Breaking Orbit blog just did a great feature on Space Bat: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/breakingorbit/2010/10/discovery-launch-space-bat-halloween.html.

It includes the Space Bat tribute video and links to associated sites including a memorial site. Unforunately, many of the other sites listed at the memorial site don’t work. If you want to go straight to the video, click here:

The world has not forgotten Space Bat, an injured free tail bat that was latched onto the space shuttle Discovery during takeoff last year. The story struck a chord with animal lovers and NASA fans alike. Animal empaths found it almost overwhelming. He/she is believed to be the first bat in history to have joined astronauts on a voyage into space.

Bats are one of the most misunderstood creatures in creation and yet their benefits to the ecosystem are immense. Here in the U.S., many bats have been dying slow deaths because of a fungal disease that has ravaged their colonies. Scientists are scrambling for a remedy, as fewer bats equal more disease-carrying bugs.

For more information on Space Bat’s siblings and cousins, see http://www.batcon.org/. The more you learn about bats, the more you might want a woodworking relative to build you your own bat house like I did. My brother was kind enough to make me one that even has a Batman symbol on the front.

There’s a number of Space Bat tributes on You Tube. Here are two of the better ones:

As YouTube user rangeclerk said, “To boldly go where no bat had ever flown before—Space Bat; To Infinity and Beyond!”

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We should be like bats to see in the darkness of our ignorance and in our world of mysteries. –Nicolas of Cusa

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