Major General James G. Blunt

Bion 5, or also Kosmos 1129 (in Russian: Бион 5, Космос-1129) was a Bion satellite. It was a biomedical research mission involving scientists from nine countries, launched on 29 September 1979, at 15:30:00 UTC. Among the experiments was the first attempt to breed mammals in space, which proved unsuccessful. The mission ended after 18.5 days, on 14 October 1979, at 02:24 UTC. The mission had the cooperation of the Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the United States and the Soviet Union.

Mission

Organisms studied included:

• Rattus norvegicus (Wistar rat)^[3]
• Coturnix coturnix (Japanese quail)
• Daucus carota (carrot)

Objectives

Bion 5 mission consisted of various biological studies, including the first mammalian reproduction attempts (rats) in space, which ended up not succeeding. Experiences NASA were designed to study the effects of radiation on mice, quail embryos and some plant specimens.

Studies on the effect of microgravity were also performed on the muscles and bones of rats and avian embryogenesis was studied in space. the effects of microgravity on plant tissues were investigated using carrots and carrot cancerous tissue to study the effects of space flight on the growth and development of plants. As in the previous mission, 30 rats for the species Rattus norvegicus were sent physiological studies; Seven additional rats were used in embryological experiments.

See also

• 1979 in spaceflight

References

Bibliography

• Kozlov, D. I. (1996), Mashnostroenie, ed.; Konstruirovanie avtomaticheskikh kosmicheskikh apparatov, Moscow, ISBN
• Melnik, T. G. (1997), Nauka, ed.; Voenno-Kosmicheskiy Sili, Moscow, ISBN
• "Bion' nuzhen lyudyam", Novosti Kosmonavtiki, (6): 35, 1996

External links

• Cosmos 1129. NASA