Ever since the foundation of the International Space Station (ISS) over two decades ago, astronauts aboard the space laboratory have conducted around 3,000 science experiments. The experiments span a range of disciplines, including biology and biotechnology, technology development, educational activities, human research, physical science, as well as Earth and space science.
The ISS blossomed over the years as the astronauts have spent more time conducting research thereat despite being criticized at first as being insignificant and irrelevant to people on Earth.
Their experiments have led to countless discoveries that helped people understand more the nature of microgravity. Here are the top strange experiments that were conducted by humans throughout history, according to ScienceAlert.
Moon Trees: Sending Seeds to Space
During the Apollo 14 mission on January 31, 1971, scientists from the US Forest Service sent roughly 500 seeds to space to know if those seeds that experienced microgravity will grow differently from the seeds on Earth that never left the planet. The seeds were planted and tended just as their counterparts here on Earth, and most of them survived into saplings.
Although it is common knowledge now, the plants that experienced microgravity has no difference from the plants that never experienced microgravity. The Moon Trees were then shipped all over the US when they were large enough to be transplanted. NASA said that there are less than100 Moon Trees to be accounted for today.
Russian Tortoises Trip to the Moon
In 1968, long before man was sent to the Moon, the Soviet Union sent Russian tortoises on a trip to the Moon to know the possible physical effects that the Moon will do on the human body. The tortoises were chosen because they were easy to strap on.
But aside from tortoises, they also sent wine flies, mealworms, seeds, plants, algae, and bacteria. Since none of these creatures were completely analogous to humans, the scientists also sent a dummy fitted with radiation sensors.
The two tortoises were sent on board the Zond-5 spacecraft on September 2, 1968, wherein they were no longer fed. The unnamed tortoise cosmonauts were officially launched to the Moon on September 15 and landed back on Earth on September 21. But they found that any changes in the tortoises were likely due to starvation and with only little changes due to the spaceflight-related atrophy.
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Old Spacesuit Released Into Space
On February 6, 2006, astronauts in the ISS floated an old Russian Orlan spacesuit stuffed with old clothes and a radio transmitter. The spacesuit was nicknamed Ivan Ivanovitch or Mr. Smith, but its official name was SuitSat-1 or AMSAT-OSCAR 54.
Their goal was to use old spacesuits as satellites, but the success was short-lived as NASA claims that the transmitter died shortly after releasing the spacesuit. On the other hand, the Russians claim that the final transmission was recorded a fortnight later. It entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up on September 7, 2006.
Apollo 15 Hammer and Feather Drop
Commander David Scott of Apollo 15 tested Galileo Galilei's theory of the hammer and a feather reaching the ground at the same time despite having dissimilar mass. He took a geological hammer in one hand and a falcon feather in the other, raising them about 1.6 meters above the ground and dropped them.
Since space is a vacuum, without air resistance, the two objects with different mass fell in sync to the ground. This proves the theory that mass had no bearing on gravitational acceleration.
How Fire Behaves in Microgravity
Learning how fire behaves in microgravity can help plan for fire safety in space for future long-term missions and help inform fire safety protocols on Earth. There are several ongoing research about how fire behaves in space like the Burning and Suppression of Solids experiments aboard the ISS, Saffire experiments, and NASA's Flame Design investigation.
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