A Russian cockroach called Nadezhda (Hope) has given birth to the first creatures ever conceived in space, scientists in Voronezh, central Russia, said Wednesday.
Nadezhda conceived while on the Foton-M bio-satellite September 14-26 flight.
The flight was part of an ongoing experiment into the effects of space flight by the Institute of Biomedical Problems.
The cockroaches that spent 12 days aboard the orbital laboratory Photon, will be studied further.
Students of the academy developed a program of experiments with the these insects. This is a real victory because the project became one of the four projects that were selected for the implementation aboard Photon," associate professor Dmitry Atyashkin of the biological and ecological department at the Voronezh State Medical Academy said.