Russian Space Ark Returns Animals to Earth; Many Die

摘要

A Russian space capsule carrying lizards, mice, gerbils, fish and other creatures has safely returned to Earth, but not all of its animal passengers survived the monthlong spaceflight, according to news reports. The Bion-M1 space capsule launched into space on April 19 atop a Russian-built Soyuz 2 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On May 19 the capsule came back to Earth, guided with the help of a parachute system to the ground in Russia's Orenburg region. It is the longest animal astronaut mission of its kind. Space officials reportedly discovered that more than half of the 45 mice aboard the spacecraft died during the flight, the AFP reported. All eight Mongolian gerbils and many of the other creatures also did not survive, but all 15 geckos did survive, the news service reported.