Other name(s) Hope | Species Cockroach Full Name Надежда Years active 2007 | |
Notable role Sent into space during the Foton-M 3 bio-satellite flight | ||
Nadezhda cockroach top 5 facts
Nadezhda (Russian: Надежда, Hope) was a common house cockroach that was sent into space during the Foton-M 3 bio-satellite flight between September 14 and 26, 2007 by Russian scientists. Scientists monitoring the mission from Voronezh announced that Nadezhda had successfully given birth to 33 children, these 33 insects being the first earthlings known to be born in space, in conditions of microgravity. Nadezhda and the rest of the insects were traveling inside a sealed special container, and a video-camera was filming the whole process.
Contents
What was considered unnatural for the newborn cockroaches was that their carapace 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.
Grandchildren
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 pretty similar to that of any other cockroach.