NASA has now given details about the circumstances of Brian’s demise. It turns out that Brian was in fact a free-tailed bat, and not a fruit bat as previously reported.
NASA was hopeful that Brian would fly away before Discovery even got close to launching, but it turns out that there was a reason for the bat’s stubbornness (and no, he wasn’t sleeping):
Based on images and video, a wildlife expert who provides support to the center said the small creature was a free tail bat that likely had a broken left wing and some problem with its right shoulder or wrist. The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery’s climb into orbit.
Now, that is sad. Brian was seen to be moving from time to time, and despite the deterrents put in place by NASA to frighten wildlife away from pre-launch shuttles (i.e. warning sirens), he refused to budge. This was probably because he was injured.
Naturally, this sad event has caused some anger, but I doubt NASA can be to blame for this unfortunate series of events. Bats have been seen to land on waiting shuttles on launch day in the past, only for them to fly away when the shuttle underwent fuelling, so ground control assumed Brian would simply fly away. However, they had no idea until after the fact that Brian was injured.
During shuttle launches (or any launches for that matter), local wildlife is bound to be impacted from time-to-time, and any creatures in the locale to the rockets perish in silence, with no media coverage. At least Brian went out in style. He will be remembered for a long time…
Ground Control To Brian Bat
To round off this captivating story, Karl Clodfelter (@DrKaz on Twitter) has adapted David Bowie’s “Ground Control To Major Tom”, very fitting. Here’s the original tune, so sing the following, starting about one minute in…
This is Ground Control to Brian Bat
You’ve really chosen bad
And the websites want to know just why you’re there
Now it’s time to leave the fuel tank if you dare
This is Brian Bat to Ground Control
I’m getting ready to soar
And I’m flying in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I gripping insulation
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do…
[guitar solo] clap-clap
astroengine.com 
lmao
Thanks for the nod for the lyrics from the previous post. I guess Brian went out with a lot more panache than he might have had with a broken wing and hurt shoulder in the wild. Attention was paid, whereas otherwise he would have just been a meal for an owl or cat and never known.
Besides, I like to think that Brian was able to get away in time. Sure he was a little dinged up, but he probably made it back to his cave where his friends, including some vampire bats, saw him enter a little wobbly and with blood on his face and hands. His vampire friends asked him, “Where did you get all that great smelling blood??” He told them to leave him alone. They pestered him until he told them, “Fine, I’ll take you where.”
They flew and flew until they reached the launch tower area. He pointed to the launch tower and said, “Ok, we’re here. Do you see that launch tower?” And they all said that they certainly did! He said, “Well, good, because I didn’t.”
Hey, the space-o-sphere community could use a mascot. Why not Brian the Astrobat.