Sent into space during the Foton-M 3 bio-satellite flight
Years active
2007
Offspring
33
Nadezhda (Russian:Надежда,Hope) was acockroach that was sent into space during theFoton-M 3 bio-satellite flight between September 14 and 26, 2007 byRussian scientists. Scientists monitoring the mission fromVoronezh announced that Nadezhda had successfully produced 33 offspring on Earth.[1][2] While it was reported that Nadezhda's offspring were the first earthlings to be conceived inmicrogravity,Japanese rice fish successfully conceived and produced offspring in microgravity as part of the IML-2 experiment aboardSTS-65 in 1994.[3][4] Nadezhda and the rest of the insects were traveling inside a sealed special container, and a video-camera was filming the whole process.[5]
What was considered unnatural for the newborn cockroaches was that theircarapace had darkened in colour much earlier, in comparison with natural-condition cockroaches who develop that darker tone later in their life cycle. But the rest of the conditions and capacities of the cockroaches remained normal.[2] Later it was reported that Nadezhda's grandchildren, born to one of the space-born insects, had given birth on Earth to normal cockroaches, with a life cycle and development similar to that of any other cockroach.[6]
