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 …

[Grant]

video of one flying

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

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome

Simply awesome.

@ Grant: video - awesome.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's where they ended up...

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

[Mussie (Ed)]

I for one...

welcome out nectar drinking overlords

[frank ly]

@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 :(

[avatastic]

Wouldn't these be

Wouldn't these be butterfloats and not butterflys?

[Neil Barnes]

Flutterbies...

Made my day. That's all.

[Jonathan Hogg]

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.

[ChessGeek]

Larvae Poop

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

[phoenix]

@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?

[Jimboom]

Sod butterflies

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

[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.

[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.

[Quirkafleeg]

No plummeting?

Oh well. No sending lemmings up, then.

[genghis_uk]

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...

[Adam Salisbury]

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 :(

[Anonymous Coward]

@jimboom

Awesome.

That is all.

[Graham Marsden]

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...!

[Registard]

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?