Yeah, Right, Whatever

Last summer, during Discovery's launch, the External Tank hit a bird. Yup... the Shuttle went head-to-head with what was probably a turkey vulture (which like to hang around the launch pad for some reason). Here's a pic:

Anyway, since the Shuttle did have a little bit of tile damage after the last launch, Mission Control had the crew do a major once over, and they found some white streaks on the leading edge of the wing that concerned the crew a bit. A quick call to MC eased their fears... it's just bird droppings.

Shuttle lead flight director Tony Ceccacci said he saw the same splotches on the identical part of the shuttle about three weeks ago when Discovery was on the launch pad and laughed when pictures beamed back from space Wednesday showed they were still there.

That means these bird droppings withstood regular Florida thunderstorms, a mighty Fourth of July launch during which 300,000 gallons of water is sprayed at the shuttle's main engines, and a burst upward through Earth's atmosphere. During that launch Discovery went from zero to 17,500 mph in just under 9 minutes.

And still the bird droppings remained in place. Mostly.

A reporter asked Ceccacci how close of a look they got at the bird bombs and if he could be sure if it really was birdy turdy. Ceccacci said they were within five to ten feet, but, "if you're asking if we touched it, no."

They're just going to let the droppings burn off during re-entry. I guess they can't find a big enough car wash up there, eh?