We all tend to picture the space shuttles in exactly the way NASA want us to. Great, gleaming, towering paeans to the things mankind can achieve when we put our minds to it, a sleek and powerful icon of the space race! By which we mean they look all nice and clean and shiny and white, like they're designed by Apple or something. Every photo, video of piece of merchandise to feature space shuttles like the Discovery has NASA's creations as bright white and gorgeous to look at (if you're that way inclined), like a sports car the owners obsessively wash. Turns out that the majority of their space shuttles have more in common with the off-road Land Rover a farmer's owned for thirty years and hasn't cleaned once that whole time. The space shuttles, especially Discovery, are bloody filthy. Disgustingly so, in fact. Which sort of makes sense, considering the amount of crap that accumulates on your average automobile just from driving around a city - imagine how many bugs get splattered on a windshield during a rocket launch. The damaged, grimy shuttle is seen as a testament to its long career and many spaceflights for NASA, with employee Stephanie Stilson saying of the Discovery "when you look at her up close, she does look worn. There are discolorations and streaks from going from orbit back into our environment here." So less of a paean, and more likely to have "CLEAN ME" or "I WISH MY WIFE WAS THIS DIRTY" drawn on its back windows.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
