Scientists have sent many animals into space to study the effects of the space environment on organisms, including turtles, jellyfish and cockroaches.
1. Fruit flies
Fruit flies are an insect that was one of the first animals to be sent into space. Drosophila has been in space since 1947. Scientists used a V-2 rocket to send fruit flies into space to explore the effects of space's radiation environment on organisms. Because fruit flies can reproduce in 14 days, have only four pairs of chromosomes, and some of their genes are strikingly similar to human genes, they are still frequent visitors to space.
2. Laboratory rats
Lab rats, which are often used in various scientific experiments, are also frequent visitors to space "travel". With the help of lab rats, scientists have found that deeper space exploration is likely to cause minor liver damage. In addition, by comparing one of the twin mice into space and the other on Earth, the scientists also found that the year-long space journey made more significant changes in the genes of the space mice.
3. Dogs
In the fifties and sixties of the 20th century, dogs were often sent into space. However, dogs are the worst treated, and they are often used to test the safety of various devices, the most famous of which is the space death of the space dog Laika.
Laika was launched into space on November 3, 1957 by the Soviet Union's Sputnik 2 satellite. However, Laika was destined to be gone, because the Soviet Union had not yet developed the technology of the first space capsule, and the purpose of the experiment was to find out whether living passengers could withstand the overweight of a rocket launch and the weightless environment when entering space, as well as to find out how organisms react in space.
At that time, the Soviet Union claimed that Laika was euthanized, and it was not until 2002 that relevant agencies revealed that Laika actually died of heat stroke shortly after entering space.
In 1960, Sputnik 5 sent two dogs named Belka and Strelka into orbit, and they returned to the ground alive.
4. Monkeys and chimpanzees
In 1949, the first monkey to be sent into space by humans was a rhesus monkey. After receiving an anesthetic injection, the monkey was sent into space by a rocket while sitting in a capsule, but due to a malfunction of the machine, the rhesus monkey suffocated due to lack of oxygen. Later, several more monkeys were sent into space, but none of them were able to return to the ground.
In 1959, the United States sent two macaques into space, fortunately, they did not go and never returned, as the previous ones did, but returned to Earth safely, but the male monkey died due to improper anesthesia when the electrodes were removed; The other female monkey lived until 1984.
In 1961, a three-year-old chimpanzee in the United States, Hamm, was sent into space, where he flew for a total of 15 minutes and experienced weightlessness for 6 minutes and 30 seconds. After returning safely to Earth, Hamm was sent to two different zoos before leaving the world in January 1983.
5. Cats
The name of the first space cat was Felisette. French scientists sent Felisette into space in October 1963, not only implanting electrodes in Felisette's skull to collect data, but also applying electrical impulses to the soles of its feet to stimulate it to respond. The cat returned safely to Earth, but was euthanized two months later and then dissected by scientists to study its brain.
6. Turtles
The turtle was first sent into outer space in 1968, along with mealworm larvae, which are commonly used in Europe to feed pet birds. In 1968, turtles and mealworm larvae traveled to the vicinity of the moon aboard the Soviet spacecraft Probe 5 and returned safely to Earth after circumnavigating the moon. However, they lost some weight, perhaps because they didn't eat enough in space.
7. Spiders
Can spiders build webs properly in space? The answer is: yes. Two spiders were the first to go into space, named Anita and Arabella, who were sent into space in 1973. In the first few days of space, they are not used to the weightlessness of the environment, floating around. After getting used to the weightless environment, they begin to form nets. Although they are a bit slow to form nets, the nets are not much different in appearance, except that the space nets are tougher than the Earth nets.
Unfortunately, Anita and Arabella died of dehydration due to food quality problems and did not make it back to Earth alive.
8. Cockroaches
Cockroaches have been called the "strongest creatures on the surface", and it's no surprise that they've been chosen as space animal passengers. The European Space Agency (ESA) sent 54 cockroaches into space in 2007 on a spacecraft equipped with a separate cockroach space life system room. The cockroaches that went into space not only survived, but also successfully conceived and gave birth to 33 baby cockroaches (animals in weightless conditions should not have been able to ** and thus could not conceive). Later, scientists also found that the 33 baby cockroaches not only grew faster, ran faster, but also became stronger.
9. Geckos
In 2014, five geckos were sent into space by Russian scientists using biosatellites (small "spaceships" dedicated to carrying small animals) to study the effects of a gravity-free environment on mating. The five geckos spent a month and a half in space, but they did not make it back to Earth safely. Scientists have recorded images of geckos often "playing" with floating objects in satellites, a behavior that is rare on Earth, but these space geckos often behave in this way.
10. Jellyfish
In the 90s of the 20th century, NASA scientists sent 60,000 jellyfish into space. Jellyfish sent into space, like humans, are able to adapt to the weightless environment of space and adjust their bodies at any time. However, when they return to Earth, they are not well adapted to the Earth's gravity and cannot swim normally in the water as before.