Russian scientists announce 'spaceroach' grandchildren: report

Russian space scientists announced on Thursday a new breakthrough in a long pedigree of firsts: the birth of 30 grandchildren of a "space cockroach" who spent 12 days in orbit.

Interfax news agency reported the birth of 30 healthy descendants of the pioneering cockroach Nadezhda (Hope), who conceived last September in an orbiting laboratory named Foton-M.

Unlike Nadezhda's children, who showed a faster maturation rate than normal, the grandchildren correspond completely to the average household cockroach, said Dmitry Atyakshin, a scientist at Voronezh Medical Academy, 470 kilometres (290 miles) south of Moscow.

"These are descendants of those cockroaches who were conceived in space and were born after returning to Earth ... In all particulars they accord with standards on Earth," he told the news agency.

The grandmother was the latest in a long line of animals to have been tested for their survival skills in space. Cockroaches are not known to inhabit the International Space Station, a long-term home to humans in space.

俄罗斯太空科学家于本周四宣布了一项动物试验的最新突破：曾经在太空遨游12天的“太空蟑螂” 有了30个孙辈。

据俄罗斯国际文传电讯社报道，这30只健康的孙辈蟑螂是太空蟑螂先驱“希望”的后代。“希望”是去年9月在Foton-M绕道实验室中受孕的。

俄罗斯沃罗涅什医学院的科学家迪米瑞·阿季亚克欣表示，与“希望”的子女不同，她的孙辈与普通常见的蟑螂完全一样，而她的子女要比普通蟑螂发育快得多。沃罗涅什医学院位于莫斯科以南470公里处。

他对记者说：“这些孙辈是在太空中受孕的蟑螂返回地球之后产下的。其细部特征与地球上的蟑螂基本一致。”

这只蟑螂奶奶是诸多参与太空生存技能测试动物中的新进成员。科学家之前不知道蟑螂是否能在国际空间站生活。国际空间站长期以来都只是人类的太空家园，没听说过有蟑螂在那里寄居。