back to article Space butterflies invade ISS

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are now hopelessly outnumbered by orbital butterflies as part of a student education project dubbed, "Butterflies in Space." Four Painted Lady butterflies emerged this week from chrysalises floating freely in a suitcase-sized container on the ISS, after blasting off in space …

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  1. Grant
    Happy

    video of one flying

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xKzL_jIMdA

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Awesome

      Simply awesome.

      @ Grant: video - awesome.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    That's where they ended up...

    I see number 21 and 24... but where's Dr. Girlfriend?

  3. Mussie (Ed)
    WTF?

    I for one...

    welcome out nectar drinking overlords

  4. frank ly
    Unhappy

    @Grant re. video of one flying

    It's trying to fly in a tiny box through a fog of larva poop! Why didn't they have a simple air circulation system with a filter over the outlet grill? I just felt sad watching that :(

  5. avatastic
    Coat

    Wouldn't these be

    Wouldn't these be butterfloats and not butterflys?

  6. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Happy

    Flutterbies...

    Made my day. That's all.

  7. Jonathan Hogg
    WTF?

    No wonder...

    I expect they're mostly hanging onto the sides because where the fuck else are they going to go? That case is tiny. Poor buggers.

  8. ChessGeek

    Larvae Poop

    Too bad they didn't have a way of removing all that. It might be less freaky for the butterflies.

  9. phoenix
    FAIL

    @video of one flying

    Which may have been so much more constructive if the tank hadn't have been so small. If you were to repeat this on Earth it would be similar as the insect hasn't enough room to gain proper flight. And this is what passes as science these days?

  10. Jimboom
    Megaphone

    Sod butterflies

    I want to know when they are going to put piiigggggssss innnnnn spppaaaacceeeee!

  11. DZ-Jay

    butterflynauts??

    Really?

    Astronaut: Astro = Star; Naut = Sailior, Navigator, or Traveler; ergo, Traveler of the Stars.

    Butterflynaut: Butterfly = er, Flying Bug; Naut = Traveler; ergo, Traveler of the Butterflies?

    Sheesh, do they not teach anything in school these days?

    A more authentic, and even cooler name would be Astrolepidoptera, or Space Butterfly.

    -dZ.

  12. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    Flying in zero g must be confusing

    All your effort gives accelleration, instead of just cancelling your natural tendency to plummet.

    1. Quirkafleeg
      Coat

      No plummeting?

      Oh well. No sending lemmings up, then.

  13. genghis_uk
    Joke

    Painted Ladies?

    I bet the guys on the ISS were a bit upset when they heard a group of painted ladies were turning up and all they got was butterflies...

  14. Adam Salisbury
    Headmaster

    The Poop Box

    I've gotta agree with Frank Ly and Pheonix; the box could do with being bigger and not full of zeor-g poo, I'll better those Astrolepidoptera (thanks DZ) won't fly much once they've figured out they just get pooo all over their wings :(

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @jimboom

    Awesome.

    That is all.

  16. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    Where's Godzilla?

    Everyone knows that these butterflies are going to mutate in Outer Space and become the equivalent of Mothra when they come back to Earth...!

  17. Registard
    Alien

    Butterfly flaps its wings...

    ..creates a shit storm in space.

    Yeah, I felt sorry for them too. Seemed cruel really and what exactly is the scientific merit if registry reading f00ls like us (me) can easily see the inherent flaws in this particular experiment?

    Maybe they should just open up a window and let them go?

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