Nadezhda (russian: Надежда, Hope) was a
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...
that was sent into space during the
Foton-M 3 bio-satellite flight between September 14 and 26, 2007 by
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n scientists. Scientists monitoring the mission from
Voronezh
Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...
announced that Nadezhda had successfully produced 33 offspring on Earth, these 33 insects being the first earthlings known to be conceived in conditions of
weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
.
Nadezhda and the rest of the insects were traveling inside a sealed special container, and a video-camera was filming the whole process.
What was considered unnatural for the newborn cockroaches was that their
carapace had darkened in colour much earlier, in comparison with natural-condition cockroaches who develop that darker tone later in their life cycle. But the rest of the conditions and capacities of the cockroaches remained normal.
Later it was reported that Nadezhda's grandchildren, born to one of the space-born insects, had given birth on Earth to normal cockroaches, with a life cycle and development similar to that of any other cockroach.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadezhda (cockroach)
Animals in space
Individual cockroaches