Space Shuttle Discovery Finds Stowaway Bat
The Discovery space shuttle had a surprise stowaway when it launched successfully last night - a fruit bat. Skip related content
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Space Shuttle Discovery Finds Stowaway Bat The animal was found hiding next to an external fuel tank.
Its fate is unknown but it is likely to have died during take-off.
"We're characterising him as unexpected debris and he's probably still unexpected debris somewhere," launch director Mike Leinbach told laughing reporters at a press conference.
Bats can cause a problem if they damage the heat shield tiling, which protects the orbiter when it re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
Fight STS-119 left the Kennedy Space Centre without incident.
It is on its way to deliver power-generating solar wings to the International Space Station.
Seven astronauts are on-board and Japanese crew member Koichi Wakata will remain on the station, replacing US astronaut Sandra Magnus.
The shuttle launch had been delayed five times. The latest hitch came last week when a leak was found.
It is not the first time a bat has attempted to hitch a ride into space.
One was spotted on the Endeavour shuttle but it flew away before take-off in 1996.
In 1995, a turkey vulture ran into a fuel tank during the launch.
It did not cause any damage but Nasa has used radar to locate flocks of birds and fired canons to scare them off ever since.
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