Payloads Foton-M3 Microgravity Mission
The Flight Systems Implementation Branch developed hardware enhancements including video recording
and water delivery capabilities for the newt and gecko space biology experiments for the Russian
Foton-M3 mission launched onboard the Soyuz-U rocket September 14, 2007 from Kazakhstan.
Scientists from NASA Ames and Montana State University collaborated with Russian investigators to
conduct pre- and post-flight studies on the newt, gecko, snail and bacteria experiments to
understand biological responses in spaceflight.
Foton-M3 spent 12 days in low-Earth orbit, during which time the onboard experiments were exposed to
microgravity before reentering the atmosphere and landing on the Russian-Kazkh border on September
26, 2007.
NASA Ames scientists developed eight, one-inch deep aluminum boxes called "attics" that housed a
battery-powered video camera for inflight recording, a solid-state video recorder, infrared LEDs,
and a pump that provided water for newts and geckos.
NASA has a long history of cooperative research with the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow
using unpiloted Russian spacecraft starting with the Bion 3 (Cosmos 782) mission in 1975.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=23095
Foton-M3 rocket rolled out http://www.roscosmos.ru/NewsDoSele.asp?NEWSID=2429
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2007/07_63AR.html
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