Yes, Yes, I Am Both A Hubble-Hugger And A Shuttle Shill

Mollosid-free, Atlantis is aloft!
Because of this, space-junkies still may hope
For more of the eye-candy that, so oft
We've gotten from the Hubble telescope,
We'd cry out foul were our supply to stop.
But more than pretty pictures come from there;
Through Hubble we have peered far back in time
As far as 13 billion years, to where
(And when) it all began. She's past her prime
Our Hubble, but once this trip's complete
She'll show us even more, at wavelengths we
Have never seen. It will be no mean feat
To upgrade it. "More like brain surgery"
Than a construction job, we're told. And this
In weightless space! May nothing go amiss!

Sonnet Rant: Invasive Species And Their Careless Carriers

Swine Flu is not the only thing that's spread
By careless people doing careless things.
Five hundred thousand bats, we learn, are dead
From white-nose fungus. Silent are their wings,
And closed now are the caves from which they flew.
Meanwhile a pamphlet's making all the rounds
To lecture boaters never to pooh-pooh
That zebra and the quagga mussels' bounds
Will keep expanding, grow from lake to lake,
Its larvae hitching rides in boaters' tanks.
The fungus, too, may come in people's wake
As they tour caves around the country. Thanks.
Free Comic Book Day was my topic 'til
I read this news. And now I've gone all shrill.

BONUS SONNET: The Bat Of Discovery

Another bat has tried to hitch a lift
Aboard Discovery to outer space.
Perhaps he's seen that show "Tripping the Rift"
Too many times and hopes now to embrace
The Terry Farrel character? Or do
Bats have a mission unbeknownst to man
To boldly go to make a bat debut
Beyond our atmosphere? What's its game plan?
More likely he just thought a shuttle tank
A likely spot for napping, nice and safe.
Whate'er his reason, I'd sure like to thank
Him for the entertainment. This small waif
Stayed on the shuttle till its full lift-off.
To this intrepid soul, my hat I doff!