Requiem for Many of the Rodents on Bion-M1
All of the gerbils and half the mice reportedly did not survive their spaceflight aboard Russia’s Bion-M1 capsule, which returned to Earth last night after a month in space..
Anatoly Zak at RussianSpaceWeb.com cites Russia’s Interfax news agency as reporting that all eight Mongolian gerbils died because of an equipment failure. Half of the 45 mice also did not survive, though no reason was given. The 15 geckos (lizards) as well as the snails and containers of microorganisms and plants apparently are OK, however.
NASA is participating with Russia in this mission by providing animal enclosure units and performing research with the rodents (mice and gerbils).
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