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 1.1 million litres 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 about 28,000 km/h in just under nine minutes.
And still the bird droppings remained in place. Mostly.
Some of the droppings may have shaken off during liftoff, Ceccacci guessed. He figures the rest will burn up during landing, when the shuttle's edges get as hot as 1,600 C.
