NASA Kennedy Space Center analysts discovered a small bat clung to the external fuel tank of space shuttle Discovery as it launched to space, the U.S. space agency recently revealed.

A wildlife expert identified the bat as a free tail bat that possibly suffered from multiple injuries, including a broken left wing and an unidentified problem afflicting its right wrist or shoulder.  It's most likely the bat died quickly as the shuttle blasted towards the International Space Station (ISS).  The bat couldn't fly and simply was clinging aboard the shuttle, likely as it was unable to fly and couldn't get off the shuttle.

Specifically, the bat was located on the foam of Discovery's external fuel tank, as the temperature never dropped below 60 degrees Fahrenheit.  The bat occasionally moved around several different times, but never detached from the shuttle itself.

The Kennedy Space Center campus plays host to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and the shuttle pads have warning sirens and other measures to try and keep birds and other animals from getting to close to the shuttles prior to launch.  Radar also is used to help track birds that normally get too close.

A bat clung to a shuttle during a launch in 1998, but that bat was able to fly away when flight engineers ignited the shuttle's engines prior to launch.