The five geckos that Russia sent up in its Foton-M4 satellite in order to study the effect of weightlessness on their sex lives have died.
The satellite was launched on July 19, but Russia lost contact with and control of the satellite on July 24, just a few days into the mission. That time, the Russian space agency managed to restore contact just a few days after it was lost, and the geckos were able to keep on going.
The satellite returned to Earth on Sept 1, and the geckos were found dead inside. They may have frozen to death, as the on-board heating system had failed, according to a statement from the space agency (in Russian).
“We can say with confidence that they died at least a week before the landing because their bodies were partly mummified,” an official from Russia’s Institute of Medical and Biological Problems was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency. The report was reprinted by the BBC, here.
