Bird Droppings on Discovery Out of This World
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
HOUSTON – NASA’s rocket scientists have a new appreciation for the out-of-this-world power of bird droppings. The orbiting space shuttle Discovery sported some whitish splotches on its black right wing edge that NASA officials said appeared to be bird droppings.
The shuttle’s 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 yesterday 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 nine minutes.
And still the bird droppings remained in place. Mostly.
Some of the droppings may have shaken off during liftoff, Mr. Ceccacci guessed. He figures the rest will burn up during landing, when the shuttle’s edges get as hot as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rob Fergus, science coordinator for Audubon at Home, said he sometimes gets calls from people asking how to remove bird excrement from their cars. “Usually they can hose it off,” he said. “Apparently that doesn’t work with the space shuttle. Maybe they need a bigger hose.”
