Radiobiological experiments with plant seeds aboard the biosatellite Kosmos 1887.

The effects of spaceflight factors on the seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana and Crepis capillaris were studied provided with various protective measures: the seeds were located inside the satellite and in open space, protected with aluminium foil and also exposed without the foil cover. When the seeds were in open space without any protection, their viability was found to be suppressed; the survival rate and fertility of plants grown from these seeds were also diminished. An increase in the frequency of chromosome aberrations (CA) and in the number of multiple injuries was registered in this case.

[Recombination in Drosophila in space flight].

An experiment with Drosophila melanogaster males was performed aboard the Artificial Satellite "Kosmos-1667". Mutagenic effects of a 7-day space flight on intergene recombination in chromosome 2 were studied. The space flight factors decreased the frequency of recombination.

[Experiments with growing plants on orbital stations Saliut-5, Saliut-6 and Saliut-7].

The experiments with air-dry Crepis capillaris seeds flown on the spacecraft Soyuz-16 and orbital stations Salyut-5, Salyut-6 and Salyut-7 showed that the number of aberrant cells in the seedlings grown during flight (experimental) and after flight (flight control) was higher than that in the ground-based control. This number was greater in the experimental seedlings than in the flight controls. The plants Arabidopsis thaliana grew from cotyledons to flowers during flight.