Why were Killifish and Triops sent into space?
The discovery of how Killifish and Triops survive the deadly drought conditions of their habitat by going into diapause was so amazing that science classes wanting to do experiments in space chose Killifish grown in the Triops laboratories for two NASA-sponsored studies aboard the Space Shuttle. Television coverage of these incredible Killifish included segments on Fox News, Prime Time Pet, New York’s Eyewitness News, and MTV. They were also featured in such magazines as Discover, First, Woman’s World, Family Circle, and Forbes’ Egg. Their trips in space were also covered by thousands of local newspapers. Triops went into space on STS-121 on July 4, 2006 to do a little celestial snoozing. Five hundred-thousand eggs boarded the International Space Station for some zero-gravity research. They returned to Earth on December 22, 2006 on STS-116. NASA kept 200,000 and returned 300,000 to Triops, Inc. for donation to the Diapause Research Foundation. The Diapause Research Foundation will use
