‘World’s Fastest Bird’ Honored by NASA

The bird was seen in the area circled in red. It is not believed to have caused Challenger to explode

The 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle disaster claimed the lives of seven astronauts.  And one pigeon.

According to an anonymous NASA contractor ‘the video tapes of that launch have pretty much been worn out, having been scrutinised so closely over the years’.

‘But in 2005, new digital enhancement kit allowed us a better view than ever before – and we got a surprise’.

‘Clinging to the side of the right hand booster rocket was a medium-sized bird – later identified as a pigeon by The Audubon Society’.

Evidently the bird was in some difficulty, not flying away when the main engines were ignited.  Instead it managed to hold on to the shuttle for one minute – by which time it was travelling at about 1,500 mph.  Tragically, it was then dislodged and sucked into the booster’s exhaust.  This would have killed it pretty much immediately, so at least it didn’t suffer too much.

NASA has never previously released the information, fearing a public backlash for trivialising an event that is still raw in Americans’ collective psyche.

But time moves on, and with eyes now turning ever-more-determinedly towards destination Mars the ‘Moon era’ takes on a more nostalgic tinge.

‘The one question we’re most often asked is “did the pigeon make it into space?”.  Unfortunately, it didn’t even come close; space officially begins at 100 km above the Earth, but the pigeon only got to about 35,000 feet’.

‘So we couldn’t have awarded it astronaut wings – but have created a small memorial lawn in its honour at Cape Canaveral’.