Russia regains control of biology satellite
Russian engineers have re-established contact with its Photon-M biology spacecraft carrying fruit flies, mushrooms, and five geckos.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
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Russian engineers have re-established contact with its Photon-M biology spacecraft carrying fruit flies, mushrooms, and five geckos.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
More than likely it was the geckos who re-established contact.
They probably wanted a pizza delivery.
Do the Geckos have a Russian or a British accent?
I wish we had pictures of the fruit flies in their little space suits.
One hopes that the Russian’s took 15 minutes to save 15% on their space craft insurance.
All kidding aside, folks, my question about this mission is why? This is the sort of thing the ISS is supposedly for. Since the Russkies obviously didn’t gin up this mission in merely the last few months, it looks as though they’ve been orienting themselves toward life in a post-ISS world for some time now. This makes me think the U.S.-based space cadets who scoff at the idea that Russia might actually follow through on its current plan to abandon ISS after 2020 might want to reconsider. I think they mean it.
Russia has been launching Photon-m biology satellites for decades, even when they had Mir in orbit. On one hand there are advantages to running some biology experiments on a separate unmanned satellite then on a manned station. On the other hand this program probably has momentum from the Soviet days as a pork project that keeps getting funding because it always has gotten funding and the people running it know the right politicians.
Was unaware of the legacy of this bird. Thanks for the info.