Biosatellite

Biosatellite, any of a series of three U.S. Earth-orbiting scientific satellites designed to study the biological effects of weightlessness (i.e., zero gravity), cosmic radiation, and the absence of the Earth’s 24-hour day-night rhythm on several plants and animals ranging from a variety of microorganisms to a primate. Such space laboratories were equipped with telemetering equipment with which to monitor the condition of the specimens. Biosatellite 1 (launched Dec. 14, 1966) was not recovered because it failed to reenter Earth’s atmosphere. Biosatellite 2 (launched Sept. 7, 1967) was a complete success. It involved an assortment of biological experiments, including one concerned with mutations induced in the offspring of insects exposed to ionizing radiation in space. The flight of Biosatellite 3 (launched June 29, 1969), scheduled to last 31 days, had to be cut short when the trained pigtail monkey that was aboard became ill.