NASA's Biosatellite program was a series of three

uncrewed An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehic ...

artificial satellites to assess the effects of spaceflight, especially radiation and weightlessness, on living organisms. Each was designed to reenter Earth's atmosphere and be recovered at the end of its mission. Its primary goal was to determine the effects of space environment, particularly weightlessness, on life processes at three levels of organization: basic biochemistry of the cell; structure of growth of cells and tissues; and growth and form of entire plants and animals.

Biosatellite 1

Biosatellite 1, also known as Biosat 1 and Biosatellite A, was the first mission in the Biosatellite program. It was launched on December 14, 1966, by a

Delta G The Delta G, or Thor-Delta G was an American expendable launch system used to launch two biological research satellites in 1966 and 1967. It was a member of the Delta family of rockets. The Delta G was a two-stage derivative of the Delta E. The f ...

rocket from Launch Complex 17A of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Biosatellite 1 was the first series Biosatellite satellites. It was inserted in an initial orbit of 296 km perigee, 309 km apogee and 33.5 degrees of orbital inclination, with a period 90.5 minutes. Biosatellite 1 carried several specimens for the study of the effects of the space environment on biological processes. Prior to reentry, the entry capsule separated from the satellite bus properly, but its deorbit motor failed to ignite, leaving it stranded in a slowly decaying orbit. It re-entered and disintegrated on February 15, 1967.

Biosatellite 2

Biosatellite 2, also known as Biosat 2 and Biosatellite B, was the second mission in the Biosatellite program. It was launched on September 7, 1967, by a Delta G rocket from Launch Complex 17B of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Biosatellite 2 carried thirteen biological experiments involving insects, frog eggs, plants and microorganisms. The mission was ended early due to a tropical storm threat. Despite returning approximately a day early, its 45 hours of earth-orbital flight enabled valid conclusions to be made in the thirteen experiments on board, by comparing the onboard samples to earthbound control organisms.

Biosatellite 3

Biosatellite 3, also known as Biosat 3 and Biosatellite D, was the third mission in the Biosatellite program. Though the mission's scientific agenda was a failure, Biosatellite 3 was influential in shaping the life sciences flight experiment program, pointing to the need for centralised management, realistic goals and substantial pre-flight experiment verification testing. The mission objective was to investigate the effect of space flight on brain states, behavioural performance, cardiovascular status, fluid and

electrolyte An electrolyte is a medium containing ions that is electrically conducting through the movement of those ions, but not conducting electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Upon dis ...

balance, and metabolic state.

Table

Gallery

Biosat1.jpg, Biosatellite 1 Biosatellite II.png, Drawing of Biosatellite 2 Biosatelliet3.png, Location of the

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

on the Biosatellite 3

References

External links

Life into Space: 1965-1990
{{Use American English, date=January 2014 NASA satellites NASA programs Astrobiology space missions Space-flown life Animals in space Biosatellites