I should have been all over this when I first heard about it, but it took the following headline to get my attention:

Bat Hitches Ride to Space on Shuttle Discovery

Before the space shuttle took off, NASA noticed the bat clinging to the huge fuel tank. After determining that it wouldn’t pose a threat to the shuttle’s fragile fire-retardant tiles, the launch proceeded as scheduled, with bat proponents among the NASA ranks hoping and praying the little critter would realize its peril and fly away. “The poor little guy just didn’t know what was about to hit him,” remarked Joe Higgins, a camera operator working for NASA. “We were all rooting for him, and we just hope wherever he is…well, we hope he’s somewhere better. Somewhere better than an orange fuel tank engulfed in rocket exhaust.”