They did it, folks. Ants went to the International Space Station the verdict is out: even in microgravity they can still figure out how to ruin a picnic. Let’s take a minute to remember other crusading creatures who also took the trip beyond earth’s borders (originally posted 4/16/14):
Editor’s note:
While we commend these brave creatures on their orbital journeys and appreciate the valuable job they do for us humans, we’d like to point out that many other animals went into space before and after them. Animals like monkeys, apes, dogs, mice, cats, goldfish, and chimpanzees. Some returned fine, and others suffered extreme conditions. Outer space is littered with the corpses of more than half a century of our investigations. Here’s a brief summary of some of our unfortunate animals: http://science.howstuffworks.com/dead-animals-in-space.htm, and you can read more about them online.
View/download Animals in Spaaaaaaace in poster form (PDF)
Drawn by Hoot, written by Roar.
Check our facts!
1 http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/9288
2 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/fruit_fly/#.UyMX1oVPJS4
3 http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2005.5.690
4 http://jeb.biologists.org/content/209/16/3209.short
5 http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/F_Animals_in_Space_9-12.html
6 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12528722?dopt=Abstract
7 http://www.nsbri.org/EDUCATION-and-TRAINING/Teaching-Resources/Middle-School/Butterflies-in-Space/
8 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition22/butterflies.html
9 http://jeb.biologists.org/content/212/24/4033.full
10 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0064793
11 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/786.html
12 http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/world-s-first-spidernaut-lands-smithsonian
13 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/space_spiders_live.html
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