Snails zooming up to ISS
2005-03-01 07:11
Moscow - Fifty snails were due to launch on a Russian rocket on Monday evening to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a scientific experiment to study the effects of weightlessness.
An unmanned Progress space freighter was scheduled to blast off from Kazakhstan at 1909 GMT with the molluscs and 2.5 tons of assorted cargo for the outpost, space officials in Moscow said.
Studies of the snails should shed light on the effects of zero gravity on the human vestibule system in space.
The specimens will return to the Earth in late April with the current crew of the station, Nasa astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov, who have been working in orbit since October.
As well as additional food, water, oxygen and fuel, the freighter also brings the crew some jazz CDs and DVD recordings of films and musicals from the 1970s, ground support staff said.
The craft is due to dock automatically late on Wednesday.
- Sapa-dpa
- SAPA