A Lot Faster than the Hare

Thu 23 September 2010

A Lot Faster than the Hare

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 17:49

On the 18th of September 1968, two steppe tortoises from the Soviet Union flew around the moon. They were in a Soyuz 7K-L1 called Zond-5, which also carried a collection of insects and plant matter to test their reaction to being in space. The space craft flew around the Moon, taking photographs, measuring radiation and collecting data. A few days later, the re-entry capsule returned to earth, landing in the Indian Ocean.

The tortoises lost weight but were said to be in good health and active.

In praise of space monkeys (and tortoises) | The Daily Planet

One of my favorites, though, is the tale of two Russian tortoises (unnamed?) who, along with some meal worms and fruit fly eggs, traveled to the moon onboard the Zond 5 capsule in September 1968. Three months before the Apollo 8 astronauts, they rounded the lunar far side and returned to Earth safe and sound. Tortoises are fairly intelligent creatures, and long-lived. I wonder what happened to them. I like to imagine they’re sitting in some reptile retirement home in Moscow today, shaking their heads and asking each other, “Man, do you believe we did that?”

Sometimes it is simply a matter of being at the right place at the right time.

On the 18th of September 2010, these photographers were scattered all over the world – but each and everyone one of them was at the right place for an interesting Saturday Scene. Take a look: