Butterflies at the ISS

Crew of the International space station performed a successful experiment on growing butterflies under zero gravitation. Butterflies were born at the station. This is not the first time experiments with living beings are performed in space – scientists have asked cosmonauts to conduct experiments on grapevine snails and planarians (turbellarian worms). Worms spent 10 days at the ISS – parts of their heads were cut off, and worms showed full regeneration, normal behavior and eating activities. As for grapevine snails, before arriving to the ISS they lost part of a tentacle with optic vesicles. Snails were kept in special biocontainers with filtration system, which prevented excretions from leaving the container. Snails spent 116 days under zero gravity.