The Soyuz-2.1b rocket with the Bion-M No. 2 biosatellite has been installed at the Baikonur launch complex. The launch is scheduled for August 20.
The launch is scheduled for August 20 at 20:13 Moscow time. The spacecraft will spend 30 days in orbit and land on September 19 in the Orenburg region.
On board are 75 mice, about 1.5 thousand fruit flies, plants, fungi, lichens and cell cultures. The experiments are aimed at studying the effects of space conditions on living organisms in a high-latitude orbit, where the radiation level is a third higher than in the orbit of the International Space Station.
The results of the flight will help improve the safety of manned missions, including long-distance flights. The outer part of the satellite is equipped with a meteorite simulator with living cells to test the survival of organisms when passing through the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere.
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